Crash Course
by EmptyHeadC
Summary: A meeting between Michelle Jones and Stephen Strange sends her life completely off the rails. Magic isn't a real thing, right? So why does he seem to think she can learn it? Post-Homecoming
1. Crash Course

The thing about being friends with Peter Parker is that you meet a lot of interesting people along the way, so really the whole thing is kind of his fault.

The whole process was surprisingly easy. All Michelle Jones had to do was just never go away and Peter and Ned would end up drawing her into conversations. It happened so smoothly that part of her wonders if the two of them were looking for more friends themselves. When Peter had invited her over to his apartment with Ned the first time, she felt like maybe she was turning a corner in her life.

Homecoming night was roughly a little over 5 months ago now, which seems like an eternity at times. She had always been fairly certain that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, but to her surprise he had brought it up directly with her and told her shortly before the winter break from school. When asked why, all he would say was that he had gotten some advice, that she was his friend, and that she deserved to know. She's not entirely sure what led up to that, but she's not complaining. The feeling of being trusted so much was nice and well, _maybe_ she's got just a little bit of a crush on him.

It's March now of her sophomore year in high school and Michelle has just come out of a movie theater with Peter and Ned mid-day on a weekend. They were a bit farther away from home than normal, but the two boys insisted on checking out a brand new theater that people were raving about. She had to admit, it was a really nice place. Exiting, the girl rolls her eyes at Peter and Ned's excited chatter about the dumb action movie they just watched. She liked it too, but she'll never tell them that.

"We're heading back to your place now, right MJ? You said there wouldn't be anyone around," Ned asks. "Actually, I don't think I've ever met your parents before. Where are they?"

It's an innocent question, but it stings more than it should. Michelle's parents travel together. A lot. As in they are gone far more often than they are at home. At best she'll see them for one or two days a week. This absence is the primary cause of her love of reading – it's an escape from the loneliness. It's also the cause however for her reclusive tendencies. When she was alone, she closed further in on herself rather than reaching out so Peter and Ned are the first real friends she's ever had.

Her parents aren't cruel people by any means, they're just not around. They provide for her just fine (even if she has to do a lot of shopping herself), but it's quiet. They know she's smart and expect incredible things from her. They push and push to see her study harder and do better in school because they want to see her get into a great college (ideally Harvard) and have a good career, but it feels hollow. In the limited time she gets to spend with them, they spend most of that time focusing on her grades rather than how she's actually doing or what's new in her life. She wonders if they care.

Nearing the street, Michelle can see Peter narrowing in his eyes at a road sign before recognition seems to flicker and maybe a hint of excitement – _Bleecker Street_. Quickly, Peter grabs out his phone and sends a text. A few moments later he gets a response and his eye light up light the sun. He pulls Ned and Michelle away from the crowds an into an alley before he shares the news.

"Guys, guys! There is a real wizard who lives around here that I met recently. Want to go meet him? I just asked if I could introduce you two to him."

Ned of course reacts first by breathing out, "A wizard. Meeting a wizard. That's like, top 10 coolest sentences of all time. Of course we have to go!"

Michelle's not sure how in the world this is her life, but she shrugs and goes along with it.

* * *

The building that Peter takes them to is surprisingly normal, and blends in fairly well aside from a very unique, large, circular window on the top floor. Inside, waiting for them, is a man dressed in a red cloak and blue robes.

"Welcome back Mr. Parker. Good to see you again." He nods towards Peter and then reaches out his hand to acknowledge the others, "And you two must be his friends he mentioned. My name is Dr. Stephen Strange. Welcome to the Sanctum Sanctorum."

Michelle reaches out first to shake his hand, but finds his hands are shaking themselves uncontrollably. _Huh_. "Michelle Jones. How exactly did you two meet?"

"There was a dragon that had somehow found its way here. Mr. Parker helped me detain it so that I could send it home."

_Okay. That sounds pretty absurd_, but Peter is scratching his head with a sheepish pride so it must be true. Squinting her eyes, the girl comments, "I feel like I would have heard about it in the news."

"I had moved it into a different dimension so that it would not damage the real world. Mr. Parker had accidentally stumbled his way inside too, but I cannot deny that he was a good help." _And wow. That's a little too crazy. Time to check out of that conversation._ Nodding, Michelle wanders away while Ned is in pure awe about how amazing that sounded.

She finds herself walking over to a small bookshelf along the wall. The books are all unmarked, but they look older than anything she's ever seen before. She pulls one out and begins flipping through it. It's entirely handwritten in English and phenomenally well maintained considering its apparent age. Looking back to Strange, it's obvious that Ned is being a little overwhelming by the tinge of annoyance on his face so she tries to save him for a moment.

She calls out to him, "How old are all these?" She points to the shelf.

"Depends on which one, but they range from about 150 – 3000 years old. The one you are holding is on the more recent side. I believe it's a translated copy that was made when the Mystic Arts began attracting other nationalities."

The opportunity to read something like this is too great to pass up so she goes for it, "Can I borrow this?" She waves the book up. At Strange's disbelieving look, she quickly defends herself, "I'll bring it back next weekend. If I don't, just take it out on Peter. He can probably take it."

"MJ, that's mean," Peter pouts.

The man seems to not be offended, but rather surprised that the question was actually asked. Maybe he just doesn't have guests very often. After a minute of thought, he comes over to the shelf and grabs a second book to give to her. "Take both of them. They should get you started."

When they left, she wondered what he meant by "started".

* * *

Over the weekend Michelle finds herself completely absorbed into the book she had grabbed off Strange's shelf. It's a biography about a man named Agamotto. Apparently, he was an incredibly powerful sorcerer from thousands of years ago. The story discusses nearly all of his life before concluding at the creation the Masters of the Mystic Arts and establishing their first home at Kamar-Taj. When she finishes, she finds herself disappointed and wanting more because it reminded her of some of the best fantasy novels she'd ever read. Seeing that it was getting late however, she decides to save the second book for the next day.

At the lunch table during school, she pulls out the next book to read. She flips through one page, two pages, three. Confused, she skips around and opens to random sections. Michelle blinks rapidly a few times.

"This isn't in English." Well, that's going to make things hard.

Ned appropriately gets excited, "Whoa, really? Let me see, MJ!" Michelle passes the book over to him and he holds it like it's the most amazing thing he's ever seen. Faintly, she can hear him whisper, "Wizard book," in awe when he opens it. Her eyes roll so hard that it actually hurts.

He can't seem to make sense of it either. Most pages are filled with depictions of the human body in various positions, but without being able to read the text, it's hard to make out what it's supposed to be for. As Ned flips through some pages, Peter leans over and points at one of the pictures.

"Hey, wait. That looks familiar. I don't remember where from, but I know I've seen something like this before." Peter is also pretty baffled. Ned lays the book down on the table so all three of them can look at it.

Suddenly, it strikes Ned as to why. "I know where from! I've seen these in a yoga book that my Mom has!"

Michelle flips through a few more pages. In that light, all of the drawings make more sense and could definitely be interpreted as some kind of stretching instructions. "Are you telling me that a sorcerer gave me an ancient yoga manual?" she asks, baffled. They all get a good laugh out of it.

She still does all of the exercises shown from the book during her gym period for fun. Ned thinks it's hilarious and she certainly won't complain about the appreciative looks Peter subtly gives her while she does it.

* * *

That night her parents come back home and they all watch a movie together. It feels strange, being with them. Like they're just roommates who occasionally see each other instead of being a mother, father, and daughter. They check up on her grades and go off to bed, but they're gone again the next morning.

On some of her more depressing nights, she wonders if this is all that love is.

* * *

The next weekend, she goes back to the Sanctum to return to the books she was given. Without asking any questions, Strange offers her two more in exchange. Intrigued, she agrees.

The new pair of books are about chakras and an introduction to other dimensions.

_Right_. As if this is something that real people actually do and talk about. The yoga manual from before makes more sense now, but she can't take the theories about chakra seriously since they don't line up with anything she's ever learned about the human body. She goes to a STEM school so she's going to lean towards hard medical science, but it doesn't stop her from finishing the book and keeping notes on what she's learned. The information on other dimensions is one of the most incredible things she's ever read, but again it isn't something she can associate with the real world. She mentions this problem one weekend.

"Do you have any visuals on what the other dimensions look like? The book was rather vague in its descriptions."

Dr. Strange takes a long, analyzing look at her before pulling over a chair and responding, "I believe I can help you with that. This was done to me when I first started, but I will try to be more gentle."

"Um."

Nervous, Michelle sits down and looks up at Strange fearfully. He puts a thumb on her forehead and _pushes_.

What follows is a series of sights and sounds more intense than any dream she's ever had as she flies through space and time in other dimensions. More intense than what she imagines any drug could ever give her. It's not something she will ever be able to describe to anyone else. When she comes crashing back down into her chair, all she can do is gaze blankly in front of her.

"Oh," she squeaks out in a small voice.

Michelle gets up and leaves with her newest pair of books.

* * *

The cycle continues. Nearly every weekend she makes the trek out to see Strange and swap out her books and frequently they'll discuss the topics inside. The volumes progressively get older and older and soon enough they stop being in English at all. She can't even tell what language they're in, but eventually identifies it as Sanskrit after some research. Without a reasonable way to learn the language in a short time, she looks to more modern solutions – a Google Translate app to instantly translate any text in a photo. It makes the whole process much more of a pain, but it's exciting in a way. Like she's decoding secret information.

The newest book describes the manner in which you draw energy from yourself and from other dimensions. It discusses the mental state, the motions, and other requirements. Then it even spends a couple hundred pages explaining in fine detail why it works that way via a mashup of the various eastern mysticism teachings that she's been reading so far.

Giggling in her own embarrassment, she amuses herself by spending the night practicing drawing energy in and pretending she was a powerful sorceress.

"Michelle, if I remember right you are nearing the end of your school year."

It's the middle of May now and she's back in the Sanctum to do her weekly trading of books, but this time Strange has nothing to offer her. It feels stupid all things considered, but she's worried that he's about to cut her off.

"Yeah," she begins slowly. "Next week is finals week."

Strange contemplates the information for a moment. "As you may have suspected, I no longer have any new books to offer you. The next section of material you should be doing is more... practically oriented instead of theory based. Instead I'd like to ask you some questions." He gestures over to a couple nearby chairs and sits down. Feeling a bit nervous, she follows him.

"When I myself was first starting on this path, someone once told me '_Kamar-Taj is a place that collects broken things'_ Now, the man who said it was crazy and died a horrible death after he submitted his life to the Dark Dimension, but what he said was quite accurate. Everyone who has gone to Kamar-Taj to learn the Mystic Arts was broken in either a literal or metaphorical sense. I have seen men with their spine broken learn to walk again through it and I have seen others use it to escape their past and try to find new purpose." Strange leans forward towards her. "Why exactly are you here?"

The girl can't help but feel that maybe she's suddenly gotten in a little over her head. Unsure what to say, she remains silent.

"Are you in trouble or running away from something?" he presses.

"No! No, no. I'm not in trouble or anything," she replies nervously. _What's going on?_

"Bad grades?"

"I'm currently on pace for valedictorian," she says confidently, before answering his original question with a more uncertain voice, "The material is... interesting I guess. I have fun reading it." What else could she say?

"Interesting?" Strange asks.

"Interesting."

He leans back in his chair before making some kind of decision, "Interesting enough to want to try it yourself? With your summer vacation coming up, I believe we will have time."

"What." There's no possible way she just heard that right.

In response he just cocks an eyebrow.

"I'm a high school student. I can't do magic." What in the hell is he thinking? Does he not realize what he's saying? Don't these guys go fight dangerous monsters or something?

"And? Didn't you just tell me you were at the top of your class?"

"Uh, do you see any fireballs coming out of these hands?" Michelle feels like they are having two different conversations. He seems to be acting as though...

Strange seems a little confused as well, "Did you not read the books I provided? They should have laid the foundational theory on how to do so yourself. In our previous discussions, you've even told me that you have been completing the exercises to train your spirit."

_That's technically true, but magic isn't something you just learn and do. Right?_ Even though she knows things like the multiverse are real due to the "guided tour" he sent her on, she has trouble making that connecting line between herself and magic. Even the tour of the multiverse is something she can't associate with herself. She's literally been to other dimensions and researched about them, but simply cannot see it as being something people actually do. Perhaps meeting Dr. Strange was a bad idea so she makes a decision to find a way out of this.

She tries to make her voice sound as apologetic as possible, "I'm sorry, but I don't believe this is something I can do. I don't want to waste both of our time and end up with nothing to show for it." She gets up to leave. "Thank you for the offer. It's been fun, but I think this is my stop." And it has been fun, really, but she knew it had to come to an end eventually.

"Humor me for a moment," Michelle stops, but doesn't turn around so Strange keeps speaking, "I'd like to make you a deal. You said you wanted to go to Harvard right? I went to school there myself and my name still carries a lot of weight so I might be able to help you there. If you stay and train here with me, I'll throw my backing behind you in admissions"

Okay, that's actually a really attractive offer even if it feels a little dirty, She may be at the top of her class in a nationally ranked school, but her hopes of getting into Harvard still seem out of reach at times. She knows exactly who Strange is after looking him up the first time she met him and a recommendation from him (or whatever strings he thinks he could pull) could be quite influential.

"Even though I won't be able to do it?" She needs to confirm that.

"Yes," he nods, "even if nothing comes of it."

_Oh, Michelle, what are you doing you stupid girl? _ "Deal."

* * *

Studying for finals is a fantastic way to avoid thinking about things that keep you up at night. Tonight's topic for Michelle to suppress is thinking about the future. There's a saying "Do what you love, and you'll never work another day in your life", but she wonders what you're supposed to do if you don't know what you love. Part of her is glad that her parents push her so hard to go to Harvard because it's a hard goal that she can work towards and it buys her time to learn more about what she wants for herself.

Michelle hopes she figures it out someday. All she wants is to live a life where she's happy.

* * *

She comes back the Monday after finals week. It's now near the end of May.

Dr. Strange passes her a small item, "This is a sling ring. Using it, you can conjure portals to travel the dimensions." Michelle is unimpressed. It looks like a bad set of brass knuckles that were broken to only fit on two fingers. She puts it on anyway.

He goes on with the lecture, "In addition to its usefulness, it is also one of the easiest things to learn. I will demonstrate." With a wave of his hands he draws a circle and a hole in space appears before her. On the other side is Mt. Everest.

"What."

* * *

Having a social life with real friends and tons of time off school is nice, Michelle finds. Most of the Decathlon team stays close knit and even arranges meetups for lunch every couple weeks. She makes sure to glare at each one of them and demands they keep practicing, but her heart feels light. Her days are filled with more terrible movies and television than ever before, but she doesn't mind. Even just lying on the floor and listening to Peter's horrible Spotify playlist while they talk about absolutely anything at all is a good memory.

The decision to not tell Peter and Ned about her time training with Dr. Strange is an easy one because frankly, the idea that she's being bribed to wave her hands around in the air for three months is _embarrassing_.

* * *

A month passes and she continues to show up at the Sanctum four times a week for a few hours in the morning. The trip takes nearly an hour, but she doesn't mind so much since she gets to spend the time reading or sketching on the subway (there are endless people in crisis on the subway).

"Hmm," Strange muses as he circles around her. "It seems you are doing everything correctly, and yet you are failing to draw the energy required. I suspect it may be a psychological issue. Can you think of any reason why this may not be working?" It's nice in a way, how he handles her failure. The way he speaks is that he is genuinely confused as to why it's not working. As if he honestly believes she should be able to do this.

Of course, Michelle knows exactly why it's not working. Magic is not a thing normal people do and Michelle is a normal girl. She explicitly told him this when he offered to teach her so she's not sure why he's so surprised. All of the books she has read over the past few months were fascinating, but she has trouble accepting them as real. In her mind, she treats them like an expanded lore book to a massive fantasy world. A world where the multiverse exists. A world that's not the real world. It's something that she probably should tell Strange, but there isn't exactly a nice way to say _"By the way, I've only been pretending to accept everything I've been reading"_.

"Again," the sorcerer commands.

She'd much rather be doing meditation exercises. At least those were relaxing.

"Again."

Feeling herself start to drift off into daydreams, she closes her eyes and imagines a fantasy world where magic is real. Slowly, Michelle adds layer after layer to this world as she fits in everything she's read about the human spirit and the multiverse. Once all of it was put together, she places herself in the world as a sorceress in training. Perhaps she's in a building just like the Sanctum. She wonders what it must be like to cast a spell.

"Again."

She moves her hands, but something's different now. There's resistance on her hands as if she's dragging it along something and it's making a noise like a small fire crackling at night. Before she can complete the hand motions, she's broken from her daydream and opens her eyes to see what's going on. About four feet in front of her is 3/4ths of a large circle made of pure orange light. It's constantly showering in sparks like fireworks.

_What the fuck._

Shocked, she drops her hands and the light instantly fades. Looking to Strange, Michelle finds him remaining silent and staring intently at her.

_Did I just, Did I, Did I, Did I-_

"I need," she stammers out, "I need, I need to go." She grabs her things and races out of the building.

* * *

She doesn't go back to the Sanctum. It's been nearly two weeks since then and she tries to continue being normal and spend time with Peter and Ned, but even to them it's clear that she's more distant. They don't know why, but it's not exactly as if she can explain to them _I just almost cast a magic spell and I'm too freaked out by my own success that I can't concentrate_. The truth is that she's just scared. She's scared of being different. She's scared of the idea that she may one day she'll be asked to help the sorcerers fight something. She's scared that maybe she got in to this for all the wrong reasons. She's scared that maybe she's gotten in over her head.

Distantly, Michelle wonders if Peter felt like this when he first gained his powers. From what she can remember, he was acting very strangely for a while after that Oscorp field trip where he was bit, but he did eventually come back to normal so maybe she can too if she just gives it enough time. Unfortunately, the universe seems to have it out for her. Peter, in a perfect example of all his wonderful qualities, comes by to check up on her because she isn't returning his calls.

"I'm fine," she grinds out much more harshly than she meant.

"No, you're not. Please tell me what's going on," he's practically begging. "I just want to help you MJ."

His puppy dog eyes are on full blast and it's so hard, but she resists it. "I'm completely fine. There's nothing wrong so go away." She needs to get him out of here before she says something she regrets.

"No, I won't. Please just tell me?"

Trying another approach, she ventures, "Do you not trust me?"

"Of course I do."

"Then why won't you believe me when I say I'm fine?" Michelle can taste the bullshit on her tongue and she _hates_ it.

"Because you're not." Judging by the look on Peter's face, he already knows that was probably the wrong thing to say. In a burst of anger, she pushes him out of the door with a snarl, slams it shut, and locks it. Peter immediately begins knocking on the door and calling for her, but she ignores it as she goes back to her bedroom. The knocking finally stops an hour later and all Michelle can do is stare at the wall thinking about what she's just done and why she's screwing up the best thing she has in life.

* * *

The world may have gotten a lot weirder over the past 10 years with alien invasions, killer robots, and the occasional supervillian, but the reality is that New York City is an incredibly safe place to live. After the attack in 2012, local law enforcement worked obscene amounts of overtime to reassure people that they were secure and could continue to live a normal life. During the rebuilding, plans were even made to help coordinate future city-wide evacuations. It blew up the budget, but it worked.

There's a reason Spider-Man spends so much time on minor things like getting cats out of trees, giving people directions, or general community involvement. There isn't always all that much to do. As far as Michelle can tell, Peter doesn't mind it. In fact he seems to love all the little things. He's a people person - even he gets comically nervous at the thought of public speaking. He loves people and Queens loves him back in return. She thinks it's adorable. Still, things have been good and relatively calm ever since the plane crash on Homecoming night. Maybe she's not surprised that something had to go wrong eventually.

The first indication comes a couple nights later when a blackout begins to roll across the city at night. All the lights go out as far as she can see out her window. She checks her phone, but there's no service so the cell towers must have been knocked out as well. With no light left to continue her reading, she lies back in bed and begins to doze off.

The next thing she's aware of is waking up to a noise of something falling on her floor. It's Peter in the Spider-Man suit. The window is open so he must have crawled through.

"Peter?" Michelle asks as scrambles to get up from her bed to check on him. Something's wrong. The suit is smoking and heavily charred as if he was on fire.

He can barely whisper out, "Help," before falling into nothing but harsh breathing and gasps as he twitches on the floor. Michelle pulls off the mask to look at him. There are cuts all over him, he's practically covered in blood, and he just keeps twitching. His breath is shallow and the gasping is getting worse.

_Oh my god._

She checks for a pulse and it's there, but somewhat erratic.

_Oh my god._

Grabbing her phone, she does the only thing she can think of and calls 911. It doesn't go through. The cell towers are still down.

Trying to suppress the beginnings of what she imagines might be a panic attack, she reaches into Peter's suit to grab his phone hoping that maybe Stark gave him something more reliable. When she pulls it out, her hopes are quickly smothered. It's fried as well and smoke is coming out of it.

Michelle looks around hoping for anything, anything that might help. She doesn't have a driver's license, but she starts looking for her parent's spare car key when a small bit of moonlight glints off something on the nightstand next to her bed.

_The sling ring._

Swallowing, she can feel her heart drop out of her as she reached over to grab it. Taking a long look at it, she rolls it over in her hand. It looks different now, somehow, as if she was just now examining it properly for the first time. Remembering the urgency of the situation she tries to put on the ring, but fumbles it for a moment before it's secure. Her hands are shaking and can't get them to stop.

"Come on," she mutters to herself. steadying herself, she tries to recall everything she's ever read and heard from the lectures that Strange gave her. She's never hated herself more for not taking it seriously. She hates herself for backing away and getting scared the moment it looked like she was actually learning magic. Attempting to draw up energy like she had learned, she tries to imagine a place that can save his life. A hospital might not have electricity so she brings up a memory of the one time she was in the lobby of the Avengers compound. Image in mind, she begins the motions to create a portal. Nothing happens. Not a spark. The room is still pitch black.

What's left of her heart shatters into pieces. Her hands are still shaking.

"Come on!" she shouts out in frustration, feeling tears creeping into her vision. She takes a breath, gets the image of her destination in mind, and tries again. She begins the motions, but this time it sparks for a full second before it wisps away into darkness. There's a faint hope that glimmers inside of her and she grabs hold to it frantically.

She tries over and over again. Four, five, six, seven times before her arms go slack in disbelief that this is how Peter is going to die. What even happened to him for him to end up like this? The magic sparks, but never holds for more than a moment.

Closing her eyes, Michelle can feel tears freely flowing down her cheeks. "Please," she whispers, "please." If this stupid, idiotic, adorable boy dies because she was too scared, she'll never forgive herself. If she never gets the chance to tell him just how huge of a crush she has on him. If she never gets the chance to kiss him. She doesn't want to continue the thought.

"Please," she begs anything willing to listen.

Eyes still closed, Michelle tries again.

_The human spirit and the multiverse are real. I can draw power from them. _

Beginning the motions, she can hear it spark and it holds. The girl doesn't dare look so she keeps her eyes closed and completes the motions. Then, and only then, does she open an eye.

There, inside of her apartment, in the middle of the living room, is a portal. It's not very circular and looks extremely unstable, but it's a portal. On the other side is a well lit room that looks exactly like the image she remembered. The Avengers compound. Realizing the portal may not hold very long, she races back and tries to pick up Peter. He's heavier than she imagined. Draping his arm over her shoulder, she drags him back to the portal and steps through.

Faintly, there is a computerized voice speaking, but she can't make out the words. A couple people run up and speak to her, but she can't tell who they are or understand what they are saying. Her vision is blurry from crying and she's practically choking on her own breath. Everything seems to have stopped making sense and she stares down at herself uncomprehendingly.

Her hands are still shaking.

* * *

It's quiet when Michelle wakes up. Awareness comes to her slowly as she starts to realize that this isn't her bedroom. The bed is uncomfortable, the lights are too bright, and the air is too dry. Opening her eyes, she sees she's in a hospital bed, but can't recall why she's here. Regardless, the girl isn't hooked up to any equipment as far as she can tell so she crawls out of the bed and heads for the door. There in the hallway, looking through a window into another room, is Tony Stark. He's holding a large cup of coffee and seems to be drinking it far faster than any sane person should. The noise of the door closing behind her startles him and he turns around.

"Miss Jones. I don't think we've formally met before so it's good to see you awake. We weren't sure how long you would be out," Stark greets with a nod. There's no smile on face, but rather grim determination. She's clearly not his focus right now.

Michelle fishes for some information, "Where am I?" She doesn't remember getting hurt. Even if she was, why would Stark be here?

The man quirks an eyebrow at her, "You brought the kid here. Do you not remember? It was only thirty minutes ago. You looked like you were on the edge of a panic attack before you fainted."

_Oh._

It comes back to her all at once. The blackout, Peter, the portal, _the portal_.

She cast a real, honest to god, magic spell. Michelle's legs collapse beneath her feet and she falls to the floor.

Stark reaches out to catch her before she falls and mostly succeeds. "Whoa, do you need to lie back down?"

"I, N-No," Michelle stammers out as she finds her footing, "Just, just. Just give me a second." She needs time to come to terms with this new reality where she can actually cast magic rather than just be pretending. She needs to get away so she can freak out and cry and scream, but she can't do that here so she tries to hold it together. Changing the topic seems like the best way to go, "Where's Peter?"

"In here," Stark points through the window he was looking through earlier. "Still in surgery, but Helen thinks he'll be fine."

She doesn't look. She's not sure she wants to see. "What happened to him?"

With a dark look through the window, he responds, "We don't know yet. As far as we can tell he was electrocuted by something far more powerful than what is reasonably achievable. It fried the whole suit and damn near melted parts of it to his body. He's got a lot of burns on him, but amazingly they're healing." Stark takes a deep breath before continuing, "I'm having trouble getting in touch with his aunt so I'm about to fly out there to tell her what's going on."

_Good, good_, she distantly thinks and nods. She owes him an apology for yelling at him and her life could really use some of Peter's endless positivity right now so the sooner he's back to normal, the better, but Michelle can't face him right now. Not while she doesn't understand what's happening to herself. Looking back to Stark, Michelle asks, "Can you take me home?"

Stark turns back to her with a long look. She expects him to ask why she doesn't want to stay with Peter, but when she sees his eyes there's a glint of understanding. _Huh_. He turns back to the window. "Yeah, I'll have Happy drive you back. Head on out to the front. FRIDAY will show you the way."

As she passes by him, he speaks again, "I watched the security camera footage to see how you two got in. I can't pretend to understand what you did or how you did it and I probably should be sitting down with you to talk to you about it, but that in there," Stark taps on the window, "that in there is all the bribing I need to not ask questions. You saved his life tonight." She knows that on some level Tony Stark cares about Peter, but she'd never seen it first hand before. "Does he know? About whatever it is you did?"

Boy, that's a hard question to answer. The implication that Peter never told Stark about the sorcerers leaves her with confusing feelings in her stomach and Michelle can't meet his eyes because she isn't sure what to say. Peter and Ned knew she was borrowing the books from Strange, but she never told them about the rest. "Sort of. It's," she reaches for words because _it was never supposed to be real _doesn't seem like the right thing to say, "complicated." She walks away to her ride home.

Michelle doesn't sleep that night.

* * *

It's another week before Michelle ever steps foot out of her apartment and nearly all of it is spent locked in her bedroom. Honestly, the only reason she even left was just to restock on groceries. There's a slew of texts on her phone from May and Ned that she doesn't read and a single text from an unknown number that simply says _Contact me at this number if you ever need a favor – TS. _Her parents came and went with barely a word spoken to them which is probably for the best right now.

She's pretty certain she'll never be able to tell them what happened or what she's been doing the past five months.

The news following the blackout reported that a Maxwell Dillon, calling himself "Electro", caused mass sweeping electrical outages along the east coast before he was stopped by Spider-Man. Video footage of what exactly happened was unavailable as the raw electrical charge in the area shorted out most cameras. There were press conferences about the matter, but Michelle had turned it off at that point.

That night, a week after The Incident, she climbs out the fire escape and lies down on the roof. Light pollution from the city keeps her from really seeing the stars the way she wants to, but it's better than nothing. It's nearing the end of July now and it's a warm summer's night so she wants to take advantage. With a bit of inspiration, she runs back down inside to grab her sketching book to draw. It's been a while.

Sometime later, she hears rapping on glass below her. _Peter_, she quickly realizes. Michelle hadn't even been aware that he was released from the compound, but then again she hasn't been reading any texts so she only has herself to blame. She does a quick check of the time. It's getting close to midnight.

"I'm up on the roof," she calls out. A few seconds later, she sees Peter climbing up the fire escape. He's in plain clothes so he must have walked here. She pats the ground next to her, "Sit."

"MJ, I-" he pauses as he realizes what she just said and sits down next to her, then starts over. "I don't remember much after I got hurt, but I know I was on my way here. Mr. Stark said you drove me out to the compound though and that you saved my life, so thank you. I mean it. I'm sorry I put you through that."

"You don't need to thank me." Idly, she's surprised that Stark decided to keep secret how he got to the Compound. Saying that she drove him is somewhat plausible, but considering how bad the traffic must have been in the power outage she wonders if he buys it.

"Yes I do. You went really, really far out of your way for me when no one else could help," Peter can't help but disagree.

Michelle can't help the anger that rushes out of her, "What is it with you and thinking your life is so worthless? All I did was deliver you to people who could actually help you, but you're acting like it was so much more than that!" She takes a deep breath to calm herself. She's overreacting due to stress and doesn't really want to take it out on Peter. "You go out there at least 4 days a week and risk your life for people you don't know. Why can't you believe that people who care about you are willing to do the same for you?"

A defeated sigh, "You were closest, after the fight. But you've been... avoiding me the past few weeks and the last time we spoke – we were yelling at each other. I was afraid I pushed too hard and did something wrong. Something that'd made you angry and didn't want to be my friend anymore. So when I was coming here for help, I was worried that the last thing I'd see before I died was you being angry at me. That's... That's the opposite of what I want."

How did everything become such a mess? Emotions suck. It's just like Peter to overreact and assume everything is his fault and part of her wants to yell at him about it, but this isn't the time for that. This is a pain that was caused by her and she can fix if she just puts her cards down on the table.

"I wasn't hiding from you. I was hiding from myself," she reveals. "Something... happened." At Peter's hopeful expression that she's finally telling him what's going on, she tries to explain but the right words just won't come, "You've got to understand! This was never meant to be anything serious! It was always just a joke! Something for me to kill time on and pretend!" She can feel a little hysteria coming on.

Taking several deep breaths, she goes all in. "Let me, let me try and show you. It'll make more sense." Michelle stands up, does her best to calm down, reaches out her hand, and draws a single, perfectly solid line of manifested magic.

Risking a look back to Peter, he's utterly gobsmacked. He looks like he could have been told he won the lottery and would have been less surprised. His silence is convenient though so she finishes her explanation, "So that happened and I got terrified and didn't want to talk to you or Ned because, well, you just saw. I didn't know what to think." _I'm not sure who I am anymore_, she doesn't say but hopes he hears. "Did you get scared when you woke up after the bite?"

It takes a full 10 minutes for Peter to process what he just saw, which is fine. She understands the madness of it all so Michelle lets him stare at her. For a moment, he looks like he wants to ask question after question, but he seems to get that this probably isn't the time.

Eventually, the boy realizes what was asked and gets sheepish as he runs a hand through his hair, "I uh, it was. Scary, I mean. And really awkward too. The first time I opened the door to leave my bedroom, my hand got stuck on the doorknob and I couldn't get it off. Then I pulled too hard and the doorknob snapped in half. Oh man, I was panicking like crazy that morning." She laughs at the mental image. "And it was really scary too, right? I'll never tell May or Mr. Stark, but one of the reasons I never wanted to tell May about it was because I was afraid that she'd think I was a freak. I still get that way sometimes so I try and avoid doing anything around her that's... abnormal."

"Peter, I just showed you myself channeling inter-dimensional energy. Five months ago this was just a bunch of books I was reading for fun, but it's so much more real now," A pause, "The sorcerers learn this stuff to go fight monsters from other universes. I can't do that. I don't want to. I just want to be Michelle Jones."

Silence. Peter turns himself to look directly at her, "Tell me about Michelle Jones."

Part of her wants to snap at him because emotional self-reflection is going to leave her feeling vulnerable, but she can't deny his request. She thinks about her relationship with her parents – how they expect a lot, but are never around to see her succeed or encourage her. She thinks about how uncertain her future feels. While she knows she could do many things in life, nothing ever jumps out as something she actually _wants_ to do. Nothing inspires her and it leaves her with a faint dread about getting older. The only reason she ever joined the Academic Decathlon was because her parents insisted she join something to improve her college chances, but she sticks around because she's made friends there for the first time.

_Maybe this is what Strange meant when he implied I might be broken. I'm not broken, but I might be lost. Where is my life going?_

It's stupid really. She's just a sophomore in high school and has years to figure it all out, but there's this deep feeling in her stomach that it's not going to get any better. Looking away, Michelle responds with the only words she can think to say, "I don't know who she is."

Again, silence. Without saying a word. Peter pulls her into a hug. Holding her tight, he says, "This whole thing about being scared. I've been there. I get that. I want to help you. Will you let me?" When he feels Michelle nodding into his shoulder, he continues. "But there's one thing I want you to promise me. It's a pretty big thing to ask."

"What is it?"

"Don't stop doing this magic thing, okay? The idea that maybe one day you're supposed to use it against big, scary things makes me want to go beat the crap out of Doctor What's-his-name, but when I saw you reading those books during school you always had a smile on your face. That's not something I get to see very often so if this makes you happy, then I want that too." Michelle knows she must be blushing something fierce right now.

Intellectually, he's right. Despite her skepticism that popped up a lot during the whole process, it was a lot of fun until she had her freak out. It might be a while before she truly believes it, but maybe this is a good thing.

_Maybe through the Mystic Arts, I can find out who Michelle Jones is._

She takes a long, shuddering breath and breaks up the hug. "Okay. Okay. I promise."

His smile is infectious. "So we're good now?"

"Yeah, we're good." Really, she is. Showing Peter what she did/could do has helped her feel more normal than she has in weeks. Maybe this isn't so bad. Part of her wonders if this same feeling is why Peter told her about Spider-Man back then.

Surprisingly, he asks no further questions. Instead the stupidest, biggest grin she's ever seen grows no his face and he asks, "So I'm best friends now with a sorceress? Is this what you've been doing at the Sanctum over the summer?"

That's odd. She doesn't recall ever telling them about her visits to the Sanctum other than when she started out and was borrowing their books. "Have you been stalking me?" she accuses.

"No, no, no, no. No, of course not. That would be absurd. Okay, maybe once. Or twice. No comment."

Michelle can't help it. She laughs. Banging her head on Peter's shoulder, she gets out between her laughter, "You idiot. You stupid idiot."

If Peter went full blown tomato when she kisses his cheek afterwards, then she's kind enough to not say anything. Probably because she was red too.

It takes her a few tries, but she sends him home via portal directly into his apartment which blows his mind. She realizes she forgot something important though when she hears May out of view dropping a plate and shrieking "What the fu-" right as the portal closes. _Yikes_.

* * *

Epilogue:

"Why did you try so hard to get me to learn this stuff? Like, you could have let me walk away." Michelle asks, putting away a stack of books away on a shelf.

Strange shrugs his shoulders. "I believed you could do it." _That sure smells like bullshit_, Michelle can't help but think.

"Uh huh. And you just so happened to be prepared to offer me the exact thing that would convince me to stay."

"Ah, in that case I may have cheated." At the girl's disbelieving look, he elaborated, "The Masters of the Mystic Arts are in possession of an artifact that allows viewing possible futures. I saw a future of you succeeding in your training and a glance at the critical junction of what I needed to offer for you to continue training."

To her dawning horror, she realized the implications. "And that's why you never blinked an eye at the fact I ran away for three weeks." Strange doesn't respond. She has so many questions, but isn't sure if she really wants to know the answers. Dropping the stack she's holding, she marches off down the hall. "You deal with this. If you need me, I'll be having an existential crisis in the spare bedroom."

The sound of Strange's laughter follows her down the hall.


	2. Searching for Myself

Michelle Jones wakes with a gasp.

Leaning over to check the time, the clock reads 3:00 AM. "Shit," the girl mutters to herself. She's not going to get back to sleep tonight. Grumbling, Michelle climbs out of bed and heads over to the bathroom to wash her face and get a good look at herself. It's not a very flattering picture. Her hair is total mess, but it's the lingering look of horror in her eyes that draw her attention.

_Peter Parker almost died on my bedroom floor._

It's not a new nightmare. Three times now since the night she first created the portal she's had dreams about what could have happened if she had failed. The outcome isn't something she wants to think about. Still, things have been looking up. She managed to patch up her friendship with Peter with a talk that left her feeling better than she has in weeks and also told Ned the next day (she'll probably tell May at some point, but she'll avoid it for now). Slowly, she's starting to move past this phase where she was freaked out by her accidental success at actually casting a magic spell.

Magic. God, this is not where Michelle ever thought her life would take her. It's absurd, but her brief training in the Mystic Arts saved Peter's life so she owes it enough to give it a chance and see where this ride goes. The whole learning process was pretty fun so she doesn't regret her promise to Peter to keep going with the training, but Michelle can't see what the end goal to it all is. The sorcerers learn this stuff to defend reality from extra-dimensional threats and that's a Big Scary Thing that she would rather just not be involved in.

_I don't want to save the world._

Sighing, Michelle turns off the sink and dries off her face before heading over to the kitchen to make some tea. Her parents are out of town again right now so she's not worried about waking them up. Waiting for the water to boil, she mentally goes over her plans for the day. She needs to finish packing in preparation for her trip. She leaves for Kamar-Taj later this morning.

After Michelle had finally gone back to the Sanctum, Strange approached her about an issue of sorts. The other sorcerers at Kamar-Taj apparently were not big fans of the fact that he had been independently training someone. Tradition required that all new recruits be referred to their home. As a compromise, Strange worked out an arrangement where she would go for the rest of her summer vacation. About 3 weeks.

As crazy as it is, Michelle didn't really object to the idea. Considering how much she had read about the place, she had been wanting to go there eventually and see it. She had to jump through some hoops to get the logistics to work, but it wasn't too bad. The hardest part was finding a way to keep her parents from asking questions. It was a good thing then that Tony Stark still owed her a favor. Michelle grinned to herself while sipping her tea. That was a fun phone call.

_(Tony Stark groans dramatically, "Why can't you just ask for money like a normal person?"_

_"You could pay my college tuition as well if you feel so inclined."_

_Another groan, "What did I do in this life to deserve being hassled by teenagers?"_

_"Do you want a list?")_

She has no idea what Stark said to her parents to cover for her, but they seemed to have the understanding that she wasn't going to be around much. The fact that she's lying to her parents in such a big way will probably come back to haunt her at some point, even if it's just via guilt, but it simplifies things enough for now to be worth it. If needed, Ned and Peter know her contact info. Being alone so far from home probably should bother her, but she's used to taking care of herself for a large chunk of her life.

When she finishes her tea, she decides to get back to packing. She only has a few hours. Thankfully, it's not as if she has to go through airport security. While she's never been through it, there's literally just a door in the Sanctum that takes you to the other side of the planet in an instant. She is to meet Strange there and he'll handle the needed introductions to get her settled in.

* * *

Kamar-Taj is simultaneously everything she expected and nothing like what she expected. It's extremely old fashioned and essentially looks like she's wandering around in a temple from a thousand years ago, but it's extremely well kept. Once arriving, she's introduced to a very serious looking man named Wong. Michelle learns that he's some kind of librarian here. It doesn't sound like much, but appears to command a level of respect. A lot of people defer to him.

The place has a lot of charm. There's a large outdoor training area where there's about 10 people participating in some kind of exercise. Stopping to listen for a little bit, she finds that they're being taught how to create a portal just like she was a while back. There's a number of people simply milling around. At her best guess, there's maybe 20 or so total in Kamar-Taj.

Surprisingly, there are a lot of modern and quality of life touches. The rooms are well heated despite the fact that she can't quite tell where it's coming from, there's a strong internet connection for everyone to use, and her small dorm room has the most comfortable bed she's ever laid on. Instead of regular clothes, everyone is provided a uniform of sorts that's color coded based on their level of experience and skill. In her case, she finds that she's been given a few white robes that look a little similar to something that monastery monks might wear.

_Well, when in Rome..._

What really grabs her attention though is the library. Michelle has heard of people having religious experiences before, but she never imagined it happening to her until now. In this ancient building are walls entirely coated in shelves full of books older than she can comprehend. It's the most amazing thing she's ever seen. There must be at least a thousand volumes here. All about magic. It makes her feel a little lightheaded to think a place like this existed in the world and no one knew.

* * *

_MJ: this place is amazing. I want to live in the library for the rest of my life._

_Peter: please tell me you have pictures_

_MJ: I'm not sure I'm allowed to_

_Ned: but you did it anyway right?_

_MJ: of course_

_MJ uploaded video_

* * *

Her first morning, Michelle wakes up to the sound of Wong knocking on her door. She's oversleeping, but she can't find it within her to care considering she just skipped forward 12 hours due the gigantic time zone difference. She gets dressed in the provided white robes and meets him outside.

"Stephen has explained to me your current status in training. I thought it would be best that I get you started on what's next," Wong says as they walk down the hall. They head back into the library and he begins taking a few random books off the shelves. He mumbles out some names of the books, but they're unmarked. Michelle doesn't have the slightest idea how he tells them apart.

When she gets started reviewing the newest material, it's a sudden jump in difficulty. At this point, new spells will require specific glyphs and symbols to be drawn in order for them to work. The concepts of the various shortcuts to accomplish this are quite interesting.

After a period of time, Wong appears again at her table and sits down across from her. He begins his own reading. "When Stephen mentioned that he was taking someone under his wing, I had not expected it to be someone who had never been to Kamar-Taj," Wong says after a moment of silence. "I am actually the one who insisted he convince you to come here. The way you were taught breaks many of our traditions, but then again Stephen has been doing that a lot recently."

Michelle isn't sure what kind of response he's looking for. "I can't stay here forever. I have to go to school. I have a life back home that I need to get back to," she says.

"I understand," Wong agrees. "We've never had anyone as young as you before. Your existence has brought forth many questions that we have not found answers for." Michelle simply stares back at him blankly, uncomprehending of what he's trying to say so Wong continues, "We are taught that attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual. You live in a very material world and yet you still are able to wield the Mystic Arts. This combined with Stephen's rather flexible interpretation of traditions and rules have given me much to think about."

It's a fair statement and any reply she could come up with would be very difficult to put in to words. The teachings about Material versus Spiritual stem from the idea of belief. Wielding the Mystic Arts requires a certain element of faith in things that go against common sense. Virtually everything about it defies the laws of physics or reality. Michelle herself wasn't really able to believe much of what she was reading until she accidentally tapped into the Mystic Arts the first time during an incredibly vivid daydream.

Her theory is simple: The reason that Kamar-Taj attracts only the most broken and destitute people is because they are the only ones who would believe in it due to the lack of anything else to turn to.

"I think I understand what you're saying, but I don't know how to answer it," Michelle replies while shrugging.

Wong nods, "I assumed as much. What brought you here? Why learn all this?" He gestures around to the endless shelves full of books.

"I don't know," she answers automatically. "I think," she tries to elaborate, "I think I'm here to try and figure out why I came here."

_I don't want to save the world._

Wong leans back in his chair, a little surprised. "You do not know?" He hums thoughtfully for a moment, "Stephen seems to think you're going to surprise us all someday. I'm curious to see where you go."

She glances up to Wong, but remains silent as she continues her research into glyph creation techniques for spells. They spend the next few hours in the library together simply reading.

* * *

The next morning, Michelle arrives back into the library to continue her studies. Wong is already there and wide awake. She wonders if he even left. The guy seems to be surviving on downing cups of tea, but she doesn't see where he's getting it from. Passing by him, she goes to take a seat, but notices that his cup is now empty. Wong puts his hand on it and the cup starts refilling of tea out of nothing.

_What..._

Stopping, she bends down and looks closely at the cup. She knows she's being rude to Wong, but did she really just see what she thought she saw? "Do that again," she demands of him. Wong apparently decides to humor her, downs the cup, and refills it again out of nothing.

Michelle looks over to Wong with wide eyes, "You can make tea," she whispers in awe.

Wong laughs at her. "Stephen told you about looking into the future and you took that in relative stride from what I understand, but the ability to conjure tea is what surprises you?"

Screw time travel. Generating tea on demand is the most important discovery in history. Michelle can't begin to imagine how much time and hassle this would save in her every day life. This is the kind of thing that she would seriously consider killing somebody for. Every moment spent trying to learn this would be worth it.

Michelle drops to her knees and begs, "Please. Teach me."

* * *

The group training regiment contains a surprising amount of martial arts training and sparring. It weirds her out a little, but she supposes it may have roots in stories of old eastern monastery monks being martial arts masters. Michelle isn't exactly an expert in Asian history, but she was under the impression those stories were largely exaggerated. Maybe that's not the case (she makes a note to add it to the Decathlon material to learn). Wong tells her that the sparring has multiple purposes. It's to teach people confidence, self-defense, and helps their members to meet each other. After a few sessions, she can't say they're wrong. Throwing each other to the ground tends to be a good bonding experience.

The kinds of people that she meets all have fascinating and heartbreaking stories. The two she spends the most time with are both women. The first is a woman from Germany who was just released from a long jail sentence for murder. She deeply regrets her actions and found Kamar-Taj when searching for redemption. The other is a Korean woman who fled a very influential abusive husband. With nowhere left to turn, she had found her way here.

No one here is searching for power. They're just trying to put their lives back together and learning magic is simply a side effect of healing their spirit. Very few seem to have any intention of staying very long and most leave after attaining some kind of inner peace. Michelle doesn't need inner peace though. She has a relatively normal life and hasn't suffered any turmoil. It brings back thoughts about how she fits in to all this - The only member who doesn't have a good reason to be here other than for the fun of it.

* * *

_MJ uploads photo _

_MJ: so it turns out the kindest woman in the world is a murderer. who knew._

_Peter: uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh_

* * *

Something Michelle quickly learns is that conjuring tea is a little tricky. There is no spell that actually just makes tea. You have to conjure water and then transform the water into the desired form. As such it is divided into two parts, conjuration and transmutation. Surprisingly, transmutation is the easier thing to learn so it's where she starts. Wong provides her with the reading material to get her going.

While much of someone's learning at Kamar-Taj is self-directed, there is a relatively common criteria that the masters push everyone towards as a baseline. Since Michelle has just recently shown up and is seen as a little bit of an anomaly, a lot of others do special meetings or training with her to better understand her skill level. This hectic schedule prevents her from having as much free time as she wants to work on her tea project.

* * *

About two weeks in, Strange drops by. Apparently he's heard from Wong about her progression in her studies and decided he wants to teach her something directly. He brings her out to the middle of the sparring area before beginning.

"I am going to teach you about how to conjure an eldritch whip," Strange tells her.

Michelle isn't sure what that is, but she's not certain that she's comfortable with the idea of making a weapon. "If this is some kind of way to train me into fighting your battles, then I'm not interested."

Strange rolls his eyes, "Relax. You'll find that this is actually a good exercise to practice. I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to."

The theory behind it is surprisingly simple. There's no actual spell required, but instead you just channel raw power to take form. Press both hands together and draw as much power as you can in there. Pull your hands apart to extend a rope, then lash out with one hand while letting go with the other. It's straightforward enough that Michelle wonders why they don't start by teaching this, but after a few tries she discovers that it's really tiring to do. Manifesting enough energy in the physical realm to take form is exhausting. Still after a few more tries, Michelle can feel it building between her hands. Taking the next step, she begins to pull her hands apart, but it's hard. It feels like her hands are being tied together by powerful rubber bands and it takes a lot of effort to stretch them. Slowly, she can start to see in the gap between her hands.

Eyes wide, Michelle stares at the many bands of orange light that stretch from one hand to the other. Some going from her palm, some from her fingers. _Okay, this is pretty cool_, Michelle thinks. Once pulled apart enough, she closes her right hand and can feel all the bands twist together into one large string. She lets go with the left and swings out her right arm towards a nearby stone wall. With a loud crack, a whip forms and strikes the barrier. Entire chunks of the wall the size of her fist break off and fall to the floor. The girl gapes at the devastation that she never could have imagined she could do. Suddenly, a heavy wave of exhaustion settles in over her and she has to sit down as the energy dissipates from her hand.

_Holy shit. Did I do that?_

"Good, good. Like I said, it's surprisingly simple, but you need to have the general idea of how the Mystic Arts works before you can pull it off," Strange congratulates her.

Michelle wants to tell him off and ask him what in the world she would ever use that for, but every time she opens her mouth all she can see is a flash of Peter Parker dying on her bedroom floor. Unable to say anything, she excuses herself to crash on her bed which thankfully Strange seems to understand.

_But I don't want to save the world._

* * *

Returning home is a bittersweet affair. She's come to really like this place. Her new friends come to see her off, but Wong stops her before she goes.

"Before you leave, I would like to announce that we have assigned you the rank of Apprentice." Wong then bestows her with much nicer crimson colored robes than the white ones she was wearing the past few weeks.

In truth, Michelle actually has no idea what the ranks even mean or stand for. Since she doesn't plan on living in Kamar-Taj for any extended period of time aside for visits to train and research, she never bothered to learn. When Wong hands her the new robes however, she's struck with an odd feeling and she eventually places it - _Acknowledgement_.

This feels different than when she was named captain of the Decathlon team. Back then it was thrust upon her due to some extreme circumstances. Here, she's in a place surrounded by people she's only known for a few weeks and they're recognizing her. Telling her that she has a place here. That maybe she isn't just wasting her time. That maybe she's doing the right thing.

"Thank you," Michelle says. She means it.

* * *

The massive time difference meant it was in the middle of the night when Michelle took the path back to the New York Sanctum. Tired and exhausted, she was about to create a portal somewhere close to home when she was interrupted by a voice nearby the front entrance. It seems Strange is still awake.

"Before you leave, it seems your friend has come to see you," he calls out.

Michelle checks the time and notices it's nearly 2:00 AM. A little annoyed, she wonders if Peter and Ned came to take her home. It's a very nice gesture, but she kind of just wants to fall over in bed. Getting to the door and stepping outside however, she sees that it's only Peter. Well, maybe if it's just him...

Peter shyly waves from the bottom of the steps. "Hi MJ." He has his backpack on so he probably swung out here in his suit and then changed.

Maybe she can afford to take the long way home tonight. Michelle raises an eyebrow, "You realize how late it is right?" Not that she'd ever turn him away.

He shrugs and replies, "Yeah, well it's not every day I get to see a friend home from the other side of the world. It's been quiet without you around."

Stepping down to the street, the two of them began walking towards the nearest subway station in comfortable silence. Out of the corner of her eye Michelle could see Peter stressing out over something and was about to press him about it when she felt him grab her hand. She intertwines her fingers with his.

"So, did you have a good time over there? It looked like you met a bunch of people," Peter strikes up conversation.

Michelle nods. Even if she still doesn't fully understand her own desire to keep going in her training, she's very happy she went. "Yeah. I formally joined the ranks of a cult and made friends with a bunch of criminals and murderers," she replies dryly. It's an exaggeration, but it's technically true in a sense. The shock on Peter's face is too comical to pass up, but she decides to put him out of his misery, "Relax. I'm just messing with you. I learned a lot."

After he stops sputtering from the earlier statement, Peter asks, "Like what?"

"I'm working my way up to conjuring tea," Michelle says while grinning at Peter, "Right now I'm learning how to turn things into butterflies".

"Wait, you can just make tea? Can you make food too?"

Michelle lets her grin fade into a small smile, "Well, not yet. But eventually. And yes to both."

Peter seems to drift off into his thoughts, "Wow. You could just poof a pizza into existence whenever you want."

"I'm pretty sure that would kill you even with your crazy metabolism," she comments. "Trust me. When I can refill all your drinks instantly and at no charge, you'll all be bowing to me." Wong would be SO disappointed in her if he ever heard her say that. "I learned more than that, but it's mostly just practice techniques. There's one thing I could show you, but it's a little too flashy to do in public."

"Flashy," Peter mutters. His interest is obviously piqued and probably won't let it go. After a moment of consideration, he points his thumb to his backpack and waggles his eyebrows at her. It's the stupidest look she's ever seen on him. "Want to take a shortcut?"

Michelle blinks a few times. He's implying that he wants to carry her while swinging around. It's at this moment that she thinks that maybe she really did lose her mind when she started on this path in the Mystic Arts. Just a year ago she could never have imagined doing anything resembling extreme sports, but now she almost looks forward to the idea of swinging through the city. Thinking back, it probably started ever since she took that first book from Strange and only got stronger when she returned after running away. Michelle simply feels more comfortable in her own skin. Less uncertain perhaps.

Shrugging, Michelle replies, "Okay". She trusts Peter to not let her fall.

Excitedly, Peter veers off course and pulls her into an alley. There's a fire escape that's accessible and he starts to climb it up to the roof of a building. Shaking her head at his boundless energy, Michelle starts to follow him. "Come on, MJ!" Peter calls out to her. It's really not that tall of a building. When she gets up to the top he's already changed into his suit.

_How does he change so fast? Does he practice it or something?_

Looking around Michelle asks, "So… how do we do this? Do you even have any practice?"

Peter's emotions are a little harder to read in the Spider-Man suit, but the moving eye frames do wonders. "Yep! Not for any extended period of time, but I have to carry people when pulling them out of buildings or whatever." He walks over to the girl to pick her up and moves her arms around his neck. "Hold on," he says.

Michelle is actually a little taller than him, but he picks her up as if it's nothing. In her mind she's always been aware of Peter's strength, but it's breathtaking to see it first hand. In videos she's seen him pick up cars or stop busses, but it's hard to put it in perspective. When he holds her now, she thinks she finally understands just how strong Peter might be.

Peter begins running toward the edge and leaps. Michelle closes her eyes. She can feel herself plummeting to the ground and the wind rushing through her hair. Moments later, there's a noise of the webbing shooting out and sticking to something. Making sure to hold tightly, she has a brief memory of being on a swing in a playground from when she was a child. There's this moment when you reach the top of the arc where everything is still and nothing is happening. When she feels that moment, Michelle opens her eyes.

She could swear she was flying.

Michelle can't help it. She starts to laugh. No wonder why Peter always goes out on his patrols so much. If he spends his time doing this, she can't blame him. Eventually, Peter takes her to some kind of abandoned looking warehouse and opens the door.

"I used this place to practice swinging around when I first started," he says. Looking up to the roof, Michelle can guess why. There are a ton of layered rafters and walkways that are high up. Lots of things to play with.

She decides to go ahead and say the obvious to get it out of the way, "So I assume you brought me here because you wanted me to show you the other thing." At Peter's sheepish look, she mutters, "I figured. Stay there."

Closing her eyes, Michelle begins to create the conjured whip like Strange had shown her. Channel energy between hands, stretch them apart, and release with one hand. When she opens them, in her right hand is a long orange whip made of pure light and energy. Even with his mask on, it's obvious what Peter's expression must be. The white eyes are expanded so large that it almost looks cartoonish. Peter leans in close to look at it, but he's awfully close to Michelle now and it starts getting a little weird so she does the first thing the comes to mind. She takes a step back and smacks him with the whip. Peter is sent flying through the air and skids on the ground 20 feet away.

_Oops. _

Immediately though, he gets right back up on his feet and runs over to her. He takes off his mask and blurts out "Please go out on a date with me, MJ!"

"Okay." Wait, what? Michelle rewinds the tape in her head for a moment to double check what she just agreed to. Yep, Peter Parker just asked her out on a date. He asked her out on a date as a reaction to getting beaten up by said girl. On any other day this would raise some interesting questions that she would tease him about, but she's a little too distracted right now for that.

The thing is that Peter is a Good Person in the way you only read about in stories. His moral foundation is second to none. Spider-Man does great things, but it's really Peter Parker that amazes her most. In his own way he does small things to just make life easier for other people. Sometimes that might be cleaning offensive graffiti off of someone's store or it might be as simple as the time he helped someone at school get to class when they showed up in crutches and had trouble moving around. Michelle wonders how other people never notice.

She'll never admit it out loud, but she loves listening to the dumb discussions between Peter and Ned. They talk about all ranges of things Nerd. Sometimes it's Star Wars, sometimes Stargate. She once got involved in a long discussion about the Lord of the Rings series and it ended with them watching the entire extended edition trilogy all in a row one weekend. It was great. When she looks at Peter, she sees a brilliant, dorky boy with a heart of gold. So of course it makes sense that such a person would end up being a superhero.

"Wait, really?" Peter can't seem to believe it either.

Having a crush on a superhero is complicated. Some days you'll be with them and it will feel completely natural, but then others you'll wonder why they spend time with you at all. When people talk about someone being out of their league, a superhero is at the top of that list. In many ways they just live in a completely different world. To Michelle, he's so far out of her league that all she could do is wait and hope and it seems that maybe she might have had a chance after all.

Michelle puts her poker face to the test. She really doesn't want to turn into a blushing and stuttering mess in front of him. "Yep. Looks like we're going out, Parker. Where are we going?"

Realization seems to snap at Peter that yes, this is actually happening, and he starts to panic a little, "I, uh. Um. I never thought I'd get this far. Give me a minute"

She chokes out a short laugh. She really shouldn't be surprised that Peter didn't think ahead. Part of her wants to stick around, but a quick glance at the time shows it's 3:00 AM now. With the adrenaline from swinging and conjuring the whip wearing off, she's starting to feel dead on her feet.

Time to spare them both the awkwardness, "It's 3:00 AM and we're going to be returning to school in 31 hours. I need my beauty sleep. Make some plans and tell me sometime this week." Peter nods his head so hard that it looks like it's going to fall off. They say their farewells and head their own ways back home.

When Michelle usually wonders about the future, there's a lot of uncertainty. Tonight however, things seem a little brighter. The thought lulls her to a peaceful sleep.

* * *

School is strange now. Being able to control forces that defy reality makes science classes give her a little whiplash at times. How is she supposed to talk about conservation of mass when she is simultaneously studying the ability to literally create liquid out of thin air? Michelle supposes that this is just part of the Material versus Spiritual discussion she had with Wong. She can handle both at once, but it requires a big mental shift. Since Ned shares most of her classes with her, she does a lot of her homework the first few days back with him to help keep her mind straight until she gets used to it.

One day that week, they all head home to Ned's place. As they get to the door however, several sirens can be heard in the distance and Peter immediately picks up on it.

"I think I need to go," Peter looks around hesitantly.

Michelle looks down the street and thinks she sees smoke in the air, "Yeah, go." Peter puts his backpack back on and runs down the street before turning into an alley. A few moments later, she can see Spider-Man swinging his way down to the action.

Ned opens the door to let her in, "Come on in MJ." The girl doesn't seem to hear him though. She just keeps staring down the street with a deep frown on her face and her mind swirls with too many emotions to place. "MJ?" he calls out again.

It seems to shake Michelle out of her trance, but she still isn't looking at him. "How do you deal with it?" she asks.

"Huh?" Ned isn't entirely sure what she's talking about.

Glancing around to make sure no one can hear or is listening in, she answers, "He almost died in my apartment. It was frankly just dumb luck that he lived that night."

Ned's frowning now too. "Let me show you something." He walks her into his home and they go into his bedroom. She's been here before, but it always blows her away at just how big of nerds Ned and Peter are. Ned's walls are absolutely covered in posters of anything superhero oriented or from his favorite movies, but the most noticeable part is his desk with huge piles of loose computer parts.

Ned goes over to his computer and turns it on. After a few moments to log in, he launches something that starts playing a first-person video of Spider-Man looking at a burning building. Wait a second...

If she charts out where the smoke looked like it was coming from earlier, it would be around the area shown in the video. "Is this live?" Michelle asks.

"Peter doesn't know I do this, but I hooked up a feed from the suit so that I can keep an eye on things just in case. He doesn't get hurt very often, but when he does he likes to downplay it a lot. This way I know and I can try and help him out a little. If he's having a bad day at school because of something that happened the previous night, then maybe I can make the day a little easier by sticking up for him or something."

To Michelle, it explains so much. Sometimes Ned would be weirdly argumentative, usually with Flash. She could never tell what would bring it on and never pressed it. "And Peter has no idea that you do this?"

Ned nods, "Yeah, so please don't tell him, okay? Every now and then I'm able to help him out a little too. Like last week he was chasing some guy who was fleeing in a car. I was able to keep people from getting hurt in an accident with him by manipulating traffic lights."

Wow. Michelle had no idea that Ned could do anything remotely like that. The two of them sit and watch the suit feed for a while. There's a few people trapped on the top couple floors of a building that he goes in and rescues. It's a short and sweet thing, but Peter sticks around for a little bit while the firefighters put out the blaze just in case.

"What inspired you to rig all this up? You don't just wake up one day and decide you want to learn how to hack traffic lights." Michelle needs to know.

Ned surprisingly goes quiet for a moment and has a shy look on his face as he answers, "Peter's a good friend. The best I'll ever have. If this," Ned points to the feed on the screen, "is what I need to do in order to make sure he sticks around, then that's a price I'm gladly willing to pay." His mood then switches and his face lights up like the sun, "Plus, imagine the great stories I can tell someday!"

Michelle looks away. It's touching just how much he cares about his friend and she wonders if she even deserves to be involved. Part of her just feels ashamed. Peter's trying to make the world a better place, Ned's looking out for Peter, and she's just wasting time trying to learn how to make tea. Frustrated, she busies herself by getting started on her homework.

* * *

The problem with dating your best friend is that you're not sure how you're supposed to act. Lunch at school is an absolutely _miserable_ affair full of awkward silences. Through some miracle, Ned seems to pick up on this and is a huge saving grace as he carries conversations all week long to distract Peter and Michelle. She doesn't really get the whole romance thing. Is she supposed to hold his hand? Is she supposed to act mushy? She just started having real friends a year ago so going from that to a sorta-boyfriend isn't something she knows how to handle even though it's exactly what she wants. And of course because she doesn't know how to handle it, she reverts to her old reclusive tendencies and keeps her face in her "Introduction to Sanskrit" book all day rather than paying attention to her friends. It's probably the worst possible reaction and she knows it.

Eventually, Peter decides that he's going to take her out to a movie which, whatever. She doesn't honestly care about seeing a movie, but that's what people their age do right? They go out on dumb dates like that. It's a common stereotype for a reason, so she guesses that maybe that's just what they're supposed to do. She hopes it eventually gets better.

It doesn't.

Everything about their date immediately goes comically wrong. If it wasn't for the look of utter devastation on Peter's face, Michelle probably would have laughed. The entire walk out to the theater is spent in total silence as neither one of them knew what to say and once they actually got there, there was nothing showing that either of them wanted to watch. She makes a note to try and teach Peter better planning and organization skills, but first she needs to see if their night can be salvaged.

"Come on," Michelle says while tugging on Peter's arm, "let's go for a walk".

He switches to mass apology mode, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry MJ. I'm screwing this all up."

"Nope. Don't want to hear it. Let's go." Michelle guides them away with no real destination.

A couple minutes later, she tries to strike up conversation, "So how do we make this not weird? This whole week has sucked and I know I've been pretty terrible too."

The relieved sigh from Peter is so strong that she almost believes he was holding in his breath all night, "Oh thank god, it wasn't just me. I, uh, I don't know. We're dating now. Aren't we supposed to be different?"

Michelle crunches her face in thought, "I don't think so. Everything I read just kept saying to be yourself."

"Everything you read? Were you researching how to have a date?" Peter teases.

Blushing, she slaps his chest. "Of course I did. I didn't want to screw this up either. I'm sure you did too."

"Yup. Guilty as charged," Peter brazenly admitted.

They both take a moment to laugh in their own embarrassment.

"May kept saying I just need to be myself, but I don't get it. Aren't I supposed to be making some kind of big romantic gesture or something right now?" Peter asks.

Michelle's face twists in disgust, "Please don't. I'll sub you out for Flash in Decathlon."

He laughs and quickly backtracks his statement, "Okay! Okay. But like, what are we supposed to be doing here?"

"Geez Parker, the fact that you ever managed to ask out Liz blows me away."

"But this is so much more of a big deal than any date with Liz could be," Peter blurts out before realizing what he just said.

_Oh wow._

Trying to suppress her blush at the implications behind that statement, Michelle pours her heart out, "The boy I agreed to go out on a date with is a dorky loser who plays with Lego and obsesses with his friend about Star Wars. I didn't want to go out with someone else. If that's what it means to just be yourself, then I want you to be the idiot that babbles about the most inane things possible every day at lunch. I want you to be the person you were when your helped me sort myself out from my panic over using magic. I want you to be the boy who came to see me come home from across the world in the middle of the night because he missed me. You already are that person. I don't want someone else."

Peter looks up to the sky and seemingly talks to himself, "Is it really that simple?"

"I sure hope it is or else we're just two idiots talking in circles and I don't know how to be anyone else."

"Okay," Peter breathes out. "I can do that."

He immediately jumps into stories about the nonsense that he and Ned got up to while she was in Kamar-Taj. She returns with a few of her own and before they know it, a couple hours have passed by of them just walking around and talking about anything and everything. They do stop and pick up ice cream though.

* * *

They drop by Delmar's on the way home and there's no one else there aside from Delmar himself manning the register. Michelle heads to one of the back aisles to grab something for breakfast tomorrow while Peter stops at the front to chat with Delmar for a moment and get a sandwich (it blows Michelle away at how crazy his metabolism is). While trying to decide what to get, she notices a few things on the walls. A couple newspaper articles about Spider-Man and even a picture of Delmar himself with him. _Seems Peter has quite a fan._ On Peter's way to the counter, she can see him freeze for a moment and frantically look around. He quickly walks over to Michelle and grabs her by the arm.

"Something's wrong. We need to go," he says urgently.

"What? Is this your danger sense thing?" she whispers back.

He's practically dragging her before she understands what's going on. "Yeah."

As they get to the door however, two men with masks on enter and block the way out. They both pull out handguns.

_Oh fuck._ Michelle is wide eyed at the sudden turn of events. Quickly backing up, she can feel Peter pushing her behind him to try and shield her. The first man stays by the door to bar it and goes over to start shouting at Delmar for all the money in the register. The second man begins herding the two teenagers away while closing all the blinds to the windows. It's getting close to closing time and there's no one else in the store. Michelle wonders if anyone else even noticed them coming in or if anyone outside is aware.

Unsure of what to do and feeling a growing panic, she lets Peter guide her to the far wall next to a long row of windows. She risks a look outside, but only sees two people on the opposite side of the street. They aren't paying attention. Looking back to Peter, she notices that he's not looking at the gunman. He's looking at the wall decorations that she saw earlier. The Spider-Man picture and newspaper clippings.

_No, no, no, no. Please don't be this stupid, Peter._

As she sees his eyes grow hard with determination, she recalls where this feeling of fear seems familiar from. It's that feeling of when she woke up from her nightmare.

All Michelle can see is Peter's body, dying on her bedroom floor.

_I don't want to save the world._

_But maybe I can save one person._

She can't let him do this alone. He doesn't have his webshooters or the suit. Peter may have super powers and precognitive reflexes, but guns can still kill him if they get lucky. Especially if he's too hesitant to go all out due to fear of revealing himself. Mustering up every last bit of resolve she can, she waits until the man passes by her to close a window. Now standing between her and Peter with his back to her, she looks over to Peter and gives him a grim nod. He doesn't seem to understand and has a terrified look as if he never even contemplated her being involved.

There's no time though. While the man is still right next to her and facing away, she pulls back her leg and jams her foot into the back of his knee as hard as she can to force his legs to bend. Quickly, she then grabs his shoulders and pulls back. The man collapses backwards to the ground with a grunt. On his way down, Peter reaches out and gets hold of the gun with one hand to push it to the side. With the other, he wrenches it from the man's grip. After he hits the ground, Michelle kicks him in the head. Peter hits him too for good measure. It knocks him out cold.

All hell instantly breaks loose.

"You tryin to be some kind of hero?" the man by the counter shouts out. Peter and Michelle drop low to hide behind the shopping aisle and immediately two shots ring out through the deli. She shrieks, but tries to keep herself silent after realizing her mistake. She hadn't expected handguns to be so _loud_. Looking over to Peter, he seems fine and she isn't bleeding to they must have missed. The girl scrambles to the far side of the aisle. Peter now on the closer end to the counter with her at the opposite corner.

"If I even see you once, you're dead, you hear?" The remaining gunman looks back to Delmar. "Now, get me the money. Now."

_Is he just going to leave the other guy here?_

Peeking out, Michelle can see that he's not looking in her direction. She's at the farthest edge from the counter now. The man's attention is split between Delmar pulling money out and looking over to the corner where Peter was. Trying to think over what she can do here to keep Peter from charging him, she reviews all the spells she knows. Making the whip would work, but could backfire if it doesn't knock him out or if she misses. It would also stand out a lot. People might see. She needs something more subtle, but she doesn't-

Or maybe she does know one. She lets out a small smile of relief at the fact that she now has a plan.

Looking back over to Peter, she gets his attention and mimics shaking the aisle. She needs him to make noise and be a small distraction. It's a risk, but anything is better than him running at the guy. Peter crushes his eyes closed in distaste so it seems he understood what she wanted, but didn't want to do it. To try and convince him, she makes a few orange sparks from her fingers. It's obvious how much he hates it, but he nods and begins shaking the aisle.

Peeking out from her corner, all attention is diverted away from her. None of the windows can see her position from the outside due to the blinds being closed and no one is looking at her. Delmar had crouched down to hide now that he wasn't the focus. The gunman shouts over in Peter's direction and starts walking over there. Another shot rings out. Trying to keep as much of herself obscured as she can while still maintaining vision, she begins to cast the spell required.

("_I'm working my way up to conjuring tea," Michelle says while grinning at Peter. "Right now I'm learning how to turn things into butterflies.")_

A handgun is a bit on the larger end of what she practiced for, but it should work. A small orange glyph of light appears in the air before her and she moves her hands to manipulate it as quickly as possible.

_Start with the outside frame and move inwards. _Now full of the required symbols and shapes, she releases the spell and the glyph vanishes.

A single, solid black butterfly emerges from the man's hand. Shocked, the man opens his hand to see what happened and it flies up to the roof where it escapes through an air vent. Sensing the man's distraction, Peter quickly gets up and knocks him out with a solid punch after tapping into a bit of super strength.

Suddenly it felt like she could breathe again. After a moment of silence, Delmar crawled out from behind the register and looked on in shock with a hand over his heart. "You kids are going to give me a heart attack," he gasps out in shock.

Peter meanwhile looked over the two downed men and after making sure it was clear, took long and quick strides over to Michelle before pulling her close into a hug.

"I can't believe you did that," he breathes out.

Honestly, she can't either. "I had to keep you from doing something stupid."

"I have the most badass girlfriend in the entire world," Peter whispers in her ear. "No one else compares." He's equal parts extremely proud of her and terrified about how bad this could have gone.

Michelle thinks she's feeling pretty similarly, but it just hasn't quite set in yet. "If this is going to happen every time we go out, I'm breaking up with you."

"Yeah, that's fair."

While she hadn't been thinking much about the repercussions at the time, everything worked out mostly for the best. The security cameras in the shop were only pointed at the door and at the register so nothing was captured of when the two men were knocked out. Because the second man had wandered away from the register, nothing was captured of his gun vanishing and Delmar was lying on the ground where he couldn't see anything.

Having to stick around for the police report was a hassle, but since there was video footage of the two men coming in at the same time that Peter and Michelle were trying to leave, the police knew they weren't at fault and left them after taking a statement. They weren't big fans of directly fighting people with guns, but it was in self defense and no one was killed.

The police are left baffled when they never find the second gun.

* * *

Peter insisted on escorting her home. Part of her wanted to tease him that she would be fine and that technically she should be escorting _him_ home based on what just happened, but maybe this isn't quite the right time for that.

"So, I had fun tonight." Michelle offers. Honestly, she really did.

Peter looks at her disbelievingly, "I practically ruined our date and then we got caught in the middle of a robbery. I'm pretty sure this might be the worst date I'll ever have in my life."

Smirking, Michelle decides to be a little bold, "Well then, I guess you'll just have to plan ahead a little better for our next one". The effect is instant and catches Peter in his tracks. He almost falls over in surprise.

"You, you're not kidding. Right?" Maybe Michelle had misread the situation. Peter seems to legitimately believe that their relationship was ruined by this date despite the fact that she actually enjoyed it after they managed to start talking.

"This is no joke dork. Turns out you're stuck with me now."

The statement is simple, but does its job. Peter seems to snap out of his funk and takes a thoughtful look. "Well, I can certainly think of worse fates than that."

And with that timing, they arrive at Michelle's home. She stops before heading inside because there's one more thing on her mind that she wants to say. It's pretty important and it's going to require her to step a little out of her comfort zone, but it needs to be said. She looks over to Peter and takes each of his hands in hers.

"Sometimes when I see you go out and do the things you do, I get a little worried. You very rarely actually get hurt though because you're good at what you do, but it doesn't stop me from worrying, you know?" At Peter's understanding nod, she continues, "Back at Delmar's, you looked really scared for me. I get that because I feel that way about you sometimes. It would be really hypocritical of me to tell you to not worry about me like that when I can't do the same."

Michelle takes a deep breath. She thinks she might be starting to ramble so she tries to get back to her point, "What I'm trying to say is that I want this to work. Us. But it's probably going to be scary."

She sees Peter close his eyes and give a slow nod. He speaks softly, but rapidly rises in confidence, "Yeah. Yeah. I want that too. I can deal with scary". The admission from Peter seems to brighten his mood. "Does this mean I can call you my girlfriend?"

"You already did. Back at Delmar's." Peter's confused face is adorable. He really must not have have realized what he was saying.

With his hands still in her own, Michelle closes her eyes, leans forward, and shares a single, gentle kiss with him.

_Yes. This is worth fighting for._

When she opens her eyes, she feels satisfactory smug about the dazed look on Peter's face. He shakes himself back to reality and shyly asks, "Can I kiss you again?"

What was she going to say? No?

* * *

Later, Michelle spends the rest of her night lying in bed and reflecting on the day's events. Her date went well (sort of) and she thinks she better understands why she wants to learn the Mystic Arts.

_I don't want to save the world, but I think I want to protect my friends. Maybe I can have a little fun along the way._

Now she just needs to get good enough to save her idiotic boyfriend from himself. With a small smile, the girl closes her eyes and mutters to herself, "You had better be worth all this trouble, Peter Parker."

_I still need to figure out that refilling cup of tea._


	3. Who I'm Meant To Be

**A quick note: Don't worry about the fact that it says "epilogue" at the end. It's not really over. I view this more as a series of connected one-shots, but it would be a massive pain for readers to follow along if I did it that way. We're going to start skipping some time here because the Mystic Arts aren't something you just learn in a few days.**

**Thank you for the comments in the reviews!**

* * *

_I think I want to protect my friends_

Michelle Jones had said those words to herself the night that she helped stop a robbery at Delmar's with Peter by using the Mystic Arts. The next morning, she regretted ever having the thought. The phrase haunted her and followed her everywhere she went. The exact wording would vary a little depending on the current circumstances, but the idea was simple.

_I could do more._

But "doing more" as a sorceress means actively getting involved in that Big Scary Thing she's been trying to avoid. Fighting bad guys is this idea that's just too large in scope and too terrifying for someone like her. But no matter how scary it is, the thought just won't leave her alone. The worst part is that it's right. She really can do more and she knows it because she already did it once back at Delmar's.

This internal war she has in her mind leaves her frustrated so she starts getting more involved in regular sparring practices with Strange or even going to Kamar-Taj before bed to join their morning sessions if she can swing it in her schedule. After the first time she does one of these sessions with Strange, she came home and screamed herself hoarse when she realized that her idea to vent frustrations was to train herself for magical combat. Still, she kept going because it keeps both sides of her happy. Her normal and sane side is happy because she's practicing magic and she still thinks it's fun, but her new illogical and insane side is happy because she's getting stronger.

It's been roughly 4 months since then and it's currently the middle of December. Finals week for the current school semester starts tomorrow. Christmas is in the middle of the following week. Right now she's in the Sanctum again for another session.

"You've said that you need to study for your classes so today we won't do anything tiring. First though, have you been working on your shields?" Strange asks Michelle. Michelle nods her head. Learning how to create shields was pretty crazy. When she casts the spell to make it, large orange shields of light appear on her arms and she feels like Captain America.

"Show me," Strange commands as he creates a magical sword (and man, Michelle wonders how the hell that even works).

After screwing it up once, she successfully creates the shields and Strange slashes his sword at her. Michelle moves her left arm up to block it and the blade is deflected harmlessly.

In order to avoid accidentally damaging the Sanctum, Strange began holding sessions in the Mirror Dimension. He explained it as a plane of existence that's layered directly on top of the physical realm in a way that you can see the real world, but can't actually interact with it. Like a one-way mirror. Because things in the Mirror Dimension can't affect the real world, sorcerers do more... destructive training in there. It's a little trippy of a place. It's like she's in the Sanctum, but there's random bits of cracked glass in the air scattered around.

"Good, good," he says as he dispels his weapon and she does the same. "Today I want to talk about relics. Relics are objects imbued with magical power. They are typically sentient on some level, although just how much varies. You've already met, but one relic is the Cloak of Levitation." Strange's cloak then makes a little show of coming off and flying around him in a circle. It's kind of cute. Michelle has seen the cloak flying around the Sanctum before, but she never really addressed it because well, that's kinda weird. She's not so far gone that she's going to start talking to objects.

Something about what he said though draws out her curiosity, "You said that they are imbued with magical energy. Does that mean I could create my own relics?"

The man nods, satisfied with her understanding. "Yes. I should say that doing so requires a lot more energy than you would expect. More powerful relics were created under... unnatural circumstances."

"Do you have anything I can read to learn about how to do that?" This gives Michelle an idea.

Heading over to a nearby bookshelf, he picks one out and hands it over to her. "This is very advanced material," he warns.

She shrugs as she takes it from him, "What's the worst that could happen?

"Reality itself could tear apart." he replies matter of factly.

That brings her up short. "Well, I wasn't planning on going quite that far."

* * *

Peter doesn't like to admit it for fear of sounding vain, but he loves Spider-Man merchandise. There's a secret stash in his closet of shirts based on him that he'll never wear and only has for the sake of collecting them. Michelle had been thinking about getting him something similar for Christmas, but due the growing popularity of the stuff it has been getting a little expensive which can be hard for a high school student without a job. To her surprise however, she recently saw a surprisingly nice and high quality Spider-Man themed metal bracelet within her price range (though at the upper end of it). It wasn't gaudy and frankly you probably wouldn't know it was based on the superhero unless you were intentionally looking closely at it. So she buys it.

Michelle's idea is simple. Her boyfriend would probably get a kick out of anything magical so she'll try and put a minor enchantment of sorts on the bracelet and give it to him for Christmas. After getting started on researching how to create magical relics however, she finds that she's way in over her head. The material in the book is so far advanced that she wonders if she would be able to do it at all within the next several years. Honestly, she can barely make sense of what it's even talking about. The smallest of spells to place on an item still seems to require massive amounts of power and appears to have to be completed over several independent sessions or days.

It doesn't look likely at all that she will be able to successfully pull this off, but figures there's no harm in trying. By the next day she has found a minor protection spell that she thinks she might be able to do. Michelle still can't make sense of a lot of the guidelines and procedures for it, but thinks she has a general idea. The enchantment would mainly be a one-off deal that wouldn't save him from more than a single bullet, but she'll take that.

So she takes some time each night of finals week before bed to work on it.

* * *

"I don't think I ever asked. Am I supposed to call you a witch now?" Ned asks between bites of his lunch.

Michelle Jones considers the question for a moment. "Nope. The proper term is 'sorceress'. 'Witch' has a lot of negative connotations. Old, decrepit, evil women. That's not me."

"Well, sometimes it is," Ned mutters under his breath.

"Just because I've assigned you extra practice questions for Decathlon, it doesn't make me evil."

He flails his arms around, "But I'm the only one you gave them to! You're just getting revenge for when I walked in on you and Peter making out. This is abuse of power!"

"A well deserved punishment," she replies seriously and nods to herself.

Peter coughs awkwardly, "Anyway..."

It's Friday now and school has let out early after everyone finishes their last final exam. To celebrate, Peter, Ned, and Michelle head out for lunch together. Things have been mostly going well between Peter and herself. One of the biggest challenges the two of them faced was their schedules. Considering how much time Peter spends out on patrol and Michelle spends over at the Sanctum or otherwise researching/practicing, it was hard to find time to meet up. Eventually they worked it out, but it required each of them to take on a more consistent schedule so that they could be free at the same time.

The other biggest hurdle was one that they had already dealt with on their first date. Things finally stopped being awkward and Michelle realized that she doesn't really care about an official "date". She just wants to spend time with her boyfriend in whatever capacity. Sometimes that's hanging out on the weekend or sometimes it's just talking on the phone while he's out on patrol. Honestly, her biggest worry about their relationship actually has nothing to do with Peter. She's mostly worried about making Ned feel like a third wheel. Ned had once admitted to wanting to ask out Betty Brant which took her by surprise, but makes total sense in retrospect. She's been doing her best to encourage it in her own way, but not much has happened.

"We're still on for meeting up Christmas afternoon, right?" Michelle asks. "My parents are coming back into town on Monday so I'm not sure what my schedule will look like for most of next week,"

"Yeah," Ned answers, "you guys were coming over to my place."

She finds herself oddly looking forward to spending a good chunk of Christmas with her friends. It's a nice change of pace. They spend some time comparing the different questions and answers they had in the classes they shared and overall end up feeling pretty well about how they did. They won't know their true grade for a few days, but she's optimistic. When they finish the meal, they make plans to meet up again the next day and Peter sneaks in a kiss which leaves her flustered in front of Ned. Ned just stands there and makes gagging noises.

Sometimes she hates her friends.

* * *

Returning home from lunch, Michelle drops her bag by the door and heads over to the kitchen to start thinking about what to do for dinner later. In theory she could just conjure up some basic food, but it would get boring eating plain bread over and over. Plus, she doesn't mind cooking.

"Michelle Jones."

There is a man in her apartment.

Feeling her blood turn to ice, Michelle looks to the side and sees a cloaked figure standing in the middle of the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. Despite the close proximity, she still can't make out any facial features due to the large hood shadowing them. There's a staff tied to his back. How did he get in? Forcing down her panic, she starts reviewing options. Her sling ring and phone are in the bag on the floor, but she has a miniature sized can of pepper spray in her pocket that she's had since freshman year. Every instinct in her body screams at her to run.

The man begins taking steps towards her and Michelle has seen enough. She reaches over to grab her bag and bolts out the door, but she can hear him chasing not too far behind her. Her apartment is up 5 flights of stairs and thankfully there's no one in the hall. She considers screaming for help for a moment, but decides against it since she has no idea how dangerous this guy is. As she rounds a corner to get to the stairs, she feels her right leg sweep out from underneath her and she falls to the floor. Looking back, she sees that he's caught her with an eldritch whip and he begins to pull her in. She tries fighting against it with her own power, but he's _so strong_. Stronger than anyone she can ever remember practicing against.

Now directly underneath him, she can vaguely make out his dark skin, but nothing else. As the man reaches out to grab her, she pulls out the pepper spray and unleashes it on his face. It has the desired effect. The man releases his magical hold on her and grabs his face in agony. Taking the opportunity, she quickly gets up and flees down the stairs. The noise is drawing attention and she can hear doors opening and people shouting upstairs.

As she makes it to the second floor, she hears a noise and looks up. The cloaked man is dropping down the center shaft of the staircase and when he gets to her floor, he somehow slows down and a small orange glyph appears that he lands on and then uses it to jump over the railing next to her. He pulls the staff off his back and stretches it apart into segments that are held together by magical energy. Michelle hopes no one can see, but she's out of options as she quickly creates a shield to defend herself. This draws a borderline insane smile from the man, "Impressive! How skilled for one so young!" He lashes out with the staff and Michelle moves to block it. The sheer force of the impact instantly shatters the barrier and sends her flying into a wall, then tumbling down the stairs to the first floor.

Badly disoriented and hurt, she scrambles to the door and crawls outside. Now in full view of people from the sidewalk and nearby cars, she looks back and sees that he seems to have stopped chasing. In fact he seems to be completely gone. Climbing to her feet, Michelle limps to an alley out of sight while trying to avoid thinking about the blood dripping down her head or if any bones are broken. After digging out her sling ring, she makes a portal to the Sanctum. Once inside she sees Dr. Strange idly walking around while reading a spellbook. He looks over to her, surprised at her appearance and roughed up state.

Michelle takes a moment to calm down her racing heart and catch her breath. "Uh, hi."

* * *

It's a good thing that Stephen Strange is an actual doctor. He's able to help her get cleaned up and checks her over to make sure she's okay. Amazingly nothing is broken, but she'll probably have some pains on her arms and legs for a couple days.

With the immediate danger gone, she calls Peter. "Hey MJ!" he greets with more cheer than she could possibly muster right now. There's a lot of rushing wind in the background so he must be out as Spider-Man right now.

There's no way around it so she drops the news, "So, someone just tried to kill me."

The call goes utterly silent for a long time and she starts to think the call dropped. "Please tell me I didn't hear what I thought I did," he says in a deathly serious tone. She'd never heard him get like that before.

"I wish I could. I'm at the Sanctum right now and Strange is patching me up a little. I'm not sure what to do right now," she admits. She's actually feeling pretty scared, but she needs to be strong right now. If she can fake it for a while, she can have her breakdown later.

"You're hurt!? MJ please, no, I'm on the way." he gets out quickly. There's a noise of his webshooters going off so he must already be swinging his way over.

"I need a favor. That computer in your suit can check police scanners right? Did anyone report it?" If the police start getting involved, this could get complicated. Her parents would find out-

Oh god, her parents. They're going to be coming home in a few days and the apartment clearly isn't safe anymore.

"No, I would have heard about it and come to help. Let me double check," the phone goes quiet for a moment. "No reports according to Karen."

"Okay, okay," Michelle replies with a shaky breath. This removes one potential huge headache, but it also raises some concerns about her neighbors.

"I'm on my way MJ. I'll be there in a couple minutes."

* * *

Peter practically barges inside in full Spider-Man suit. It takes him a minute to find Strange and Michelle, but the second he sees her he races over as he tugs off his mask and pulls her into a hug. "Oh my god, MJ! Are you alright!?"

He's squeezing kind of hard and she still hurts all over so she does her best to gently push him off. "I'm okay. I hurt a lot though, so please not so hard."

He breaks the hug, but before Peter can apologize, Strange cuts in, "Now that he's here, I was hoping you could explain what happened."

Michelle does her best to explain the attack in detail. The man didn't say anything other than her name and she didn't get a good look at him. Certain parts of her tale jump out to Strange however.

He looks troubled, "You said it was a sorcerer that had a staff and could land on the air?" When she nods in confirmation, his frown only gets deeper. "I need to investigate. I'll get back to you." And with that he creates a portal and leaves before either of them can say a word.

The two of them simply look at each other confused as to what that was all about. "Can I crash at your place? I don't think it's safe for me to go home," Michelle asks.

Peter rapidly nods his head, "Yeah. I was going to try and convince you to anyway. I'm sure it'll be fine with May. I guess let's get going."

She's not remotely in a position to walk all the way home. "Is your aunt home? Can I just make a portal there?" she queries.

"Yeah, she's home. Sorry MJ."

Oh well. She's been meaning to tell May about her abilities eventually. Putting her sling ring back on, she makes a portal into the Parker apartment. Immediately on the other side, less than 10 feet from them, is May Parker staring right back at them

Peter waves awkwardly, "Hi Aunt May."

"Not this again." she groans out. "All right, what the hell is going on?"

Michelle is basically limping and it hurts to walk so Peter helps her through the portal. "Hi May," she greets before realizing that she kind of has to explain the fact that there is a magical portal in the middle of the apartment. "I can cast magic spells and made a portal here."

May stares her right in the eye, "You're serious."

"Yep. I've been doing this for a while now."

The other woman closes her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. A moment later she sighs and opens her eyes with the most pure and blatant display of utter disappointment that she's ever seen.

Peter, bless his heart, makes it worse. "MJ needs to stay here for a little bit because there's someone trying to kill her and I need to stay with her. Do you mind if she stays here for the weekend?"

Michelle didn't think it was possible, but May's disappointment is so powerful that it feels like it's going to swallow her whole. Eventually she relents, "Fine. Get her lying down in your bed. It looks like she's hurt. You and I are not done talking about this."

Peter helps her into bed and she almost instantly dozes off. Before she does though, she can hear Peter and May quietly arguing through the door. It's too soft to make out the words, but it makes her heart clench that she's coming between the two of them like this. May is wonderful to her nephew and that's not something she wants to ruin.

* * *

Michelle wakes up to some shouting from the kitchen. "Peter, I don't have anything to cook dinner with. Can you go get some carryout for us?" May called out. There's a noise of various drawers and cabinets opening and closing.

Opening her eyes, Michelle sees Peter is still with her in his bedroom. He's over at his desk working on homework from what she can tell. She sits up, but her body still aches and the movement draws Peter's attention with a concerned look as he answers May, "I don't think it's a good idea for me to go out right now. It might not be safe since this guy is still looking for MJ."

Michelle has been wanting to talk to May alone and this would be a good excuse to send him away without seeming suspicious. "I'll be fine. You'll probably only be gone for 30 minutes or so anyway," she says.

He looks like he wants to argue for a moment, but Peter gives in and raises his hands in surrender and says, "All right, I know a losing battle when I see one". He heads out of the bedroom to speak with May in hushed tone so that she can't tell what they're saying and then leaves the apartment after another minute.

Her limbs highly disagree with the action, but Michelle gets out of bed and slowly walks out to the kitchen where she can see May staring out a window, seemingly lost in thought. Michelle has been thinking about that disappointed look in May's eyes when first telling her about her abilities through the Mystic Arts. The implication is pretty clear: May Parker doesn't approve of her anymore. The thought of losing her support for her relationship with Peter hurts. It really does, which is why she needs to talk to her about it. The girl cuts to the real issue, "You don't approve of the things I can do."

Michelle's voice knocks May out of her daydream and the older woman looks over to her while shaking her head sadly, "I don't think this is a conversation we should have MJ." A breath, "I don't have any tea right now. Do you want anything to drink?"

"You're important to Peter so your opinion is important to me. Even if it's not something I'm going to like," Michelle makes her stance known. She doesn't want to hide who she is, but she also wants to try and show that she's still the same person she's always been. "I don't need anything to drink. Can you just hand me an empty cup?"

Confused, May grabs one from a nearby cabinet, hands it to her, and then they both take a seat at the table. To May's surprise, the girl puts a hand on the cup and it begins to fill with hot tea out of absolutely nothing. "What?" she coughs out in shock. "Is that drinkable?"

"It's as drinkable as anything I could make normally," Michelle answers while shrugging before asking, "Do you want some?"

"No, no. I'm more of a coffee person," May responds, still baffled, and fills her own cup from a pot on the table. "God, this is so crazy. World gets weirder every year," she trails off muttering. The two of them drink in silence, but it's tense with the obvious topic hanging over their heads. Getting some fresh liquid in her has Michelle feeling much better and she can practically feel the aches slipping away. With any luck she'll be fine by tomorrow.

"You should hear the way Peter talks about you. I wonder if he realizes that nearly every third word out of his mouth is 'MJ this' or 'MJ that'. I was so happy for him that he found someone like you," May eventually begins. "I'm proud of my nephew and the things he does, but I worry that he's going to get too big or try and take on too much responsibility so I encourage him to help me with charity events or fundraisers. Spider-Man's presence does wonders and it helps him build roots here. If I can keep him grounded in the city, then he'll be less likely to go off and do something extremely dangerous. That's what I was hoping for his relationship with a normal girl like you - that it would keep him grounded. Now I find out that not only are you as far from normal as possible, but you've got your own share of danger following you around that my nephew won't hesitate to put himself in front of." May sighs, "I'm not upset. I just...". She puts her hands up and shrugs with a helpless gesture.

"You just wish I was normal," Michelle finishes for her while May nods and looks away, feeling a little ashamed of the admission. It surprises the girl how little the comment about not being normal stings. Months ago, during the summer, she hid herself away from the world due to the fear of being different. These days she can't imagine her life any other way. Being a sorceress is simply who she is now and she doesn't want to go back to normality.

She understands May's concerns. While it's not exactly her fault, she's indirectly putting Peter in danger simply because he will refuse to let this go. He won't stop wanting to protect her and that's part of why she adores him so much. Telling him to stop would just go against his nature. For the first time, Michelle wonders if dating Peter was a good idea at all if it's going to potentially get him hurt. She smothers that train of thought with extreme prejudice before it can spread.

"Can you tell me about it?" May asks while swirling her coffee cup around with one hand.

Michelle doesn't understand, "Tell you about what?"

"About this magic thing. Anything. Everything. I don't want to feel this way so tell me all about it."

Oh. She's giving her a chance to make her case. The surge of relief is practically tangible. "Well, it started about 9 months ago when Peter invited Ned and me over to visit a sorcerer that he met once while on patrol."

The story is surprisingly long and she goes into as much detail as she possibly can remember. May is largely expressionless until the girl gets to the part where she saved Peter's life by teleporting them to the Avengers compound after his fight with Electro. Flickers of approval begin to show and they stay there after she describes the events of the attempted robbery at Delmar's. By the time she finishes, it has nearly been 45 minutes.

"Okay. Okay. I've got some thinking to do," May says as the story finishes and she puts her head in her hands. She glances up to the clock, "Peter's running late. I'll text him". A couple minutes later he arrives and dinner is served. For the duration of the meal, May's face is a strange mix of lost and thoughtful. No one says a word as they eat.

* * *

That night they try and figure out sleeping arrangements. They don't have a spare bed anymore so May allows the two of them to sleep in the same bed as long as they keep their door open. Her ruling embarrasses the hell out of Peter, but Michelle thinks it's hilarious. She's still a little shaken from the attack and doesn't want to sleep alone tonight so this works for her. It's not like it would be possible for Peter to do anything improper. She knows he would rather throw himself in front of every bus in the city than hurt her.

That night before they go to sleep, Peter confesses something to her. "I heard part of what your conversation with May. I had forgotten something and came back, but I heard you two talking and figured I probably shouldn't interrupt. I had no idea Aunt May felt that way."

Michelle isn't entirely surprised that he heard some of it, but she is surprised that he admitted to it. "She's just looking out for you in the only way she can," she replies while shrugging. Part of her wonders if she would feel the same way if she was in May's position. May is desperately trying to hold on to what she has left in an increasingly bizarre world while simultaneously still allowing her nephew to grow and do great things. It must be hard.

While lost in her thoughts about May, she hears Peter start to quietly snore and he unconsciously rolls over to hold her. She's not sure if it's a protective thing or affectionate thing, but she certainly can't deny that it's comfortable. Plus he's warm as hell which is nice for a winter night. Laughing softly to herself, she snuggles in a little closer and goes to sleep.

* * *

Ned drops by with his laptop on Saturday. He shows them some nearby security camera feeds to see if Michelle could identify anyone, but all she really saw was the cloak and no one was wearing anything like that in the footage.

"He was a sorcerer, Ned. He probably teleported into my apartment or something and waited for me," Michelle explains.

"I just wish there was something I could do to help, MJ. We have no idea who this guy is, what he looks like, where he came from, or where he might be. He could literally be anywhere," Ned says and boy does that put things in perspective. With the three of them there they try and have a little fun with TV or a movie, but no one has their heart in it with the threat hanging over her head. It's a depressing sight in general.

* * *

On Sunday morning they get a message from Strange that he has a lead and to meet up with him. As she thought, Michelle is feeling a lot better now. There's still some minor aches, but it's ignorable. She teleports Peter and herself out to the Sanctum to see what's going on.

"Over the past month there have been seven sorcerers that were killed. At this time I'm not sure of the exact motivation. One of the recent killings that we've tracked down was someone I knew by the name of Jonathan Pangborn. He was found dead in his workplace at a local factory. The factory is closed today so we should be able to get in and find what we need without much hassle," Strange briefs the two of them.

"Well, I'm always down for a little casual trespassing," Peter jokes. "How are we supposed to find anything though?"

Strange creates a portal that leads directly to the murder scene. Various workbenches are scattered around and tons of tools are everywhere. Michelle assumes he must have been here already for him to know this location

As the three of them step though, Strange elaborates, "I had come here yesterday, but was unable to find anything useful. After some research, I believe that this spell may help us however." Strange motions his hands to open the Eye of Agamotto he wears and the bright green core glows brightly. A few moments later a transparent projection appears in the air before them. A man is working at one of the tables who she assumes must be Pangborn.

"This is a projection of the past. We should be able to see what happened," the older man says.

Nothing interesting is going on so Peter and Michelle circle around to get a better look. "You could make a killing as a private investigator," Peter idly comments.

After a few minutes, the man in the black robe appears. His hood is pulled a little further back and he's more visible.

"Mordo," Strange breathes out.

Peter rapidly looks between the projection and Michelle, "Is this the guy?" Michelle nods her head to confirm.

_(Pangborn notices the presence behind him and turns around, "Can I help you?"_

"_They carried you into Kamar-Taj on a stretcher. Look at you now, Pangborn," the cloaked man says._

"_Mordo. So what can I do for you man?"_

"_I've been away for many months now and I've had a revelation," Mordo says as he takes his hood off. "The true purpose of a sorcerer is to twist things out of their proper shape. Stealing power. Perverting nature. Like you."_

_While he's not outright threatening him, Pangborn senses the implication and grabs a crowbar. "I've stolen nothing. This is my power. Mine."_

"_Power has a purpose," is Mordo's reply and he lunges to hit Pangborn on the side. _

_The impact seems to send him falling to the floor and unable to move somehow. He can't stand for some reason. "Why are you doing this?"_

"_Because I see at long last what's wrong with the world. Too many sorcerers." Mordo then pulls back to deliver the killing blow, but Strange ends the projection before they have to see it.)_

Great. Just great. "Okay. So there's an insane guy who wants to kill sorcerers roaming around and he wants me dead. My parents are coming back home tomorrow! What am I supposed to do? How do you even know this guy?" Michelle asks Strange.

"Mordo is a former Master of the Mystic Arts. He used to be my mentor. There was an incident where the Dark Dimension almost took over the world and in order to stop it we had to resort to some extreme measures that he did not approve of so he left," he explains as he sighs, but it's apparent that he's very troubled by what he just watched.

Peter meanwhile isn't really paying attention. He seems lost in thought and stares at the spot where the attack happened. "Can you show the attack again? I thought I saw something." Strange complies and right when it gets to the point where Mordo lunges, Peter says, "Okay stop. Here, look at where he hits the guy. There's this orange stuff coming out of him like he's sucking magic out or something."

Michelle and Strange lean over to take a look and yeah, that's exactly what it looks like. "That's... not possible," Strange says, confused. Michelle didn't know that it was possible to be this stressed out. Now he's possibly more powerful than expected because he's taking other people's magic too?

Peter wants to get to the heart of the matter, "So how do we find this guy so that we can stop him?"

"I've been trying to locate him through tracking spells ever since I first suspected, but he's blocking them. He's somewhere in the city, but I cannot do much better than that right now," answers Strange.

"I've got some friends that could probably help find him through security camera footage now that we know what he looks like. You guys make portals and stuff to get around, but maybe I could get a rough idea of where he's staying at night," the boy suggests.

They're talking about her, but only to each other. It's as if she's not even in the room. She knows it's because they're trying to protect her and keep her out of harm's way, but it almost feels belittling. The solution here is obvious, but it's apparent no one wants to say it out loud.

"Or you could use me as bait."

Michelle looks around to try and figure out who said that only to realize it came out of her own mouth. The surprised look on Peter's face must match her own, but Strange has an air of satisfaction as if he was waiting for this.

_What am I doing? I don't want to save the world from extra-dimensional creatures, but I'm willing to put myself up against an extremely powerful sorcerer? Oh Michelle, you need to stop kidding yourself._

"MJ, I-" Peter tries to say before he's cut off.

"I think," Michelle says as the words she needs to voice to convince herself start falling into place, "that I need to stop pretending that I can stand by and not do anything. These people that he's attacking. I know these people and some of them are my friends. I can't just do nothing."

_(Strange leans forward towards her. "Why exactly are you here?")_

_(Wong nods, "I assumed as much. What brought you here? Why learn all this?")_

_I was looking for meaning in my life. I was looking for a way out of that aimless, uncertain future. I even think that deep down, I was looking for a way to make a difference. _

It's quiet for a long moment and Peter's face is a complicated mess of emotions. There's too many and he's cycling through them too quickly to identify properly so Michelle looks over to Strange and asks, "Can you leave us alone for a few minutes?" He nods and leaves without a word to another room in the Sanctum.

_I can't imagine my life anymore without the Mystic Arts. This is who I am. Who I'm meant to be. It's probably time I start acting like it._

"We both knew something like this was going to happen eventually. I just didn't want to admit it to myself," Michelle says to Peter with a resigned voice.

"I know," Peter agrees, "It's just, if I had a choice I would take you and hide you away in the deepest and safest bunker in the world, but you would hate me for it. I'm trying to come to terms with that."

She reaches over and takes his hand in her own. "We'll make it through this."

"Yeah. I'm definitely going to kick this guy's ass though."

* * *

The plan they throw together is admittedly pretty terrible due to lack of time to prepare, but Michelle insisted they had to do it tonight. If Mordo is still at large by the time her parents return, then she won't be able to go home for fear of putting them in danger. That's something that would be impossible to explain.

After Michelle somehow gets Mordo's attention and draws him out, Strange would focus on moving them to the Mirror Dimension to keep anyone from seeing and to avoid collateral damage while Peter would use his webs to keep the man from escaping. One of the issues is that Michelle doesn't really know how to lure him out so she makes herself as obvious as possible by getting her Apprentice rank crimson robes and putting them on.

It's getting to be pretty late and the sun has gone down as she wanders around the city randomly. Occasionally she can see Peter in the Spider-Man suit tracking her from the rooftops. It's still a relatively populated area so she starts heading off into more isolated locations and that's what does the trick. Suddenly a portal appears in front of her and the man she now knows to be Mordo steps through as she backs away. Faintly she registers a second portal opening for Strange and she can hear Peter calling out to her, but Mordo pulls a small cube out of his pocket and everything vanishes.

She's no longer in the city, but rather in an endless field of grass – eternally flat in all directions. Mordo stands a fair distance away from her. She immediately tries to create a portal to escape wherever she is, but nothing happens.

"I've sealed this place off. You cannot leave and Strange cannot help you here," Mordo says. He shows off the cube which now glowing before putting it away, "I've brought us to a pocket dimension. You cannot escape."

Swallowing down her fear, Michelle tries to stall. There's no way she can fight him alone. "Why are you doing this?"

"It will not matter to you in a few moments," is all he says in reply.

"But I don't even know you! You don't know me! What is all this about?" Michelle pleads with him in an attempt to buy time. Her words have no effect and Mordo begins stepping towards her. In that moment, the blue sky briefly pulses a faint orange color.

The man stops and glances up to the sky. His face is suddenly starting to sweat as if he's going through a hard workout. "It seems that Strange is more persistent than I expected," he says while breathing hard.

She puts together the pieces to understand what's going on. Mordo is holding the seal on the dimension himself with his own power, but it's tiring him. Strange must be trying to break in while the man in front of her resists it. All she needs to do is wait, but her hope is quickly dashed when Mordo snaps out of his distraction and begins stepping toward her again.

Michelle decides to take the initiative and quickly casts a spell to liquefy the ground that Mordo is standing on. Surprised, he loses his footing and he drops knee-deep into mud. Immediately, she reverts the action and transforms it back before he can climb out. The man's legs are now stuck in solid ground. Trying to press her advantage before he can get out, Michelle charges him while creating a whip and swings it out to him the moment she gets in range. Mordo simply grabs the whip out of the air with one hand and ignores the hit with a flinch. Holding on his end of her whip, he swings it and tosses Michelle off to the side then takes the opportunity to free himself. The girl bounces on the ground a couple times before she stops.

_Get up, Michelle. Get up!_

He's too strong for a frontal attack so she takes a defensive approach. Climbing to her feet, she sees that Mordo has gotten loose and is already running at her with his segmented staff out. Terrified from the memory of the last time she was hit by it, she forms a pair of shields for each hand and attempts to block. As the man approaches though he leaps to the side. Michelle tries to rotate with him, but he then jumps a second time in the air with a sudden change of direction as if he was pushing off of an invisible wall. With the girl unable to keep up with his speed, Mordo takes a swing at her unguarded back and connects. Screaming in agony, she's again sent tumbling through the air and her back feels like it's on fire from pain.

_Get up! If you don't stand you're going to die!_

The man casts a spell she can't identify and stomps his foot on the ground as hard as he can. From where he is, a massive crack forms in the earth and races out to Michelle's position. As it gets there, the entire world begins to split in two as the crack widens and leaves an enormous chasm in its wake. There is no bottom. Breathless at the sheer power on display, she rolls her fallen body off of the growing cracks and tries to scramble to her feet to run away. She isn't fast enough however and the chasm catches up to her, seemingly pulling her in. Her arms flail for something to hold on to, but can't find a grip before it's too late and she starts to fall. Michelle conjures a whip desperately and lashes it out to the cliff edge. It sticks. Mentally commanding her improvised rope to shorten, she pulls herself to the ledge and climbs up. On the other side of the abyss is Mordo, panting from exertion. The sky flickers orange again.

_Focus Michelle. Focus. You can have your panic attack when this is all over. He can't keep this up. He's straining himself to keep Strange out and that last spell must have taken a lot of out him. Just stall as long as you can. _

The absurdity hits her that all she has done is flail around in an attempt to save herself. She hasn't even hit him yet. Michelle has never been so thankful in her life to have done all that sparring practice in Kamar-Taj and with Strange. There's no way she could have done anything like this otherwise. For a long time Mordo does nothing and for once he almost seems indecisive. She thinks he might be about to give up and escape, but instead he starts running on the air across the newly formed canyon towards her.

Preparing for the incoming attack, Michelle manifests another shield, but can only manage to form one on her left arm. She's getting too tapped out so she takes the sling ring off her left hand and and moves it to her right. Bracing herself, Michelle blocks the staff swing from the charging Mordo. This time the shield only cracks instead of breaking entirely and she manages to keep her footing. The man meanwhile has seemed to overcommit to the attack and left himself open. She takes the opportunity and slugs him in the face with her right arm using the sling ring as improvised brass knuckles.

Mordo staggers back from the hit, but the moment she connected the whole sky flashed a deep orange as if the world was on fire. Angrily, he pulls back and readies another strike.

"MJ!"

A strand of webbing appears and sticks to the back of Mordo's right hand before he can attack with it. Looking behind him, Michelle now sees a portal where Peter and Strange have come through. Strange is on his hands and knees gasping for air and she can only assume it's from the exertion of forcing their way in. With his left hand, Mordo uses some brief hand motions to form a magical conjured sword like the one she had seen Strange using. He spins around and uses it to cut the web, then moves towards Peter.

Barely able to stand, Michelle forms another whip and strikes it out towards Mordo's legs. For the first time it manages to hold due to his weakened state. Pulling, she manages to sweep out his leg just like he had done to her back at her apartment. She falls over as well and can't muster the energy to stand. This opening was all that they needed though. As Mordo fell to the ground, Peter was able to get him tied up in webs before he could react and defend himself. He then goes over and applies even more webbing just in case.

Finally, it hits her that the fight is over and that she won. "Holy shit, I'm still alive," Michelle says in amazement. All she can do is stare down at her hands in awe. Her body feels like it must be scraped up all over with minor cuts and she'll probably be covered in bruises tomorrow, but she just fought in an incredibly dangerous battle to protect people she cares about from a powerful mass murderer.

And she came out on top.

* * *

With Mordo tied down, Strange took over most of the detainment and questioning when he eventually recovered since he seems to be the only one who really knows the full story behind the guy's motivations. Peter and Michelle are sitting a short distance away in the grass with her leaning back against his chest as he fusses over her and makes sure she's okay. She's absolutely exhausted and beat.

"I told you Strange! The bill will come due. Too many sorcerers are breaking the natural order of things! We must stop them to protect our reality!" Mordo screams out to Strange as he struggles in his bindings.

Strange just looks down to the other man in confusion, "You're insane. What happened to you?"

"And I should have never let you in to Kamar-Taj. You are worst one of them all," Mordo shuffles his right arm and manages to get it free from Strange's spell. Everyone sees this and quickly goes to re-bind him, but in that one moment he pulls a hidden dagger from his sash and stabs himself in the heart.

Time freezes as they try and register what just happened. Strange is completely dumbfounded that the man he worked with to defend the world from the Dark Dimension would change so radically. "Why?" he asks.

"If I cannot protect our world from the other sorcerers then I do not want to be around to see the result." Mordo says as he takes in his last breath. Michelle looks away. While she may have played a role in capturing him, she doesn't understand the full tale. That's fine though, she thinks as she looks over to Strange. It's not her story after all.

* * *

Eventually, Strange collects himself and they begin to head back home. He creates a portal as Peter helps Michelle up to her feet.

"Mr. Parker, could you do me the favor of carrying Mordo back to the Sanctum for me? I'll figure out what to do with his remains," Strange asks Peter.

He'd rather stay and help his girlfriend get back home, but he figures it'll only take a moment with the portals. "Uh, ok. Not a big fan of dead bodies though."

"I'm sure you'll manage."

Peter heads over to Mordo's body and begins to pick it up, but runs in to unexpected trouble. The guy's feet are practically stuck to the ground.

"Hey, um. Was this guy always so heavy? I can't pick him up. It's like his shoes are made of stone or something," Peter calls out to Strange before he can head through the portal. Strange turns around to take a look before he realized what was going on.

"Hmm. Michelle, what do you remember that I told you about relics? Those boots are one. They allowed him to jump and stand on the air briefly." he asks.

Huh. She had been wondering how that worked. The girl tries to review everything she knows about them, "You said that they're sentient."

"Correct."

Michelle then takes it to the logical conclusion, "You're saying that Peter can't pick up this guy because his boots don't want to go?"

"Exactly," while he's content that Michelle was able to figure out the problem, Strange is also rather annoyed, "We'll need to take the boots off and I'll come back for them later when I find a way to transport them,"

Peter meanwhile thinks it's pretty nuts, "You mean this guy's boots are like Thor's hammer and that only the worthy can pick them up? Those are some hardcore boots."

A little amused by the comparison, Strange nods. "Fairly similar. The main difference is that according to legends, the Mjölnir has specific criteria that anyone could hypothetically meet. Magical relics don't have criteria and only work with people they like or want to work with."

When he finishes getting Mordo's boots off, Peter tries picking them up for fun. His super strength allows him to get them off the ground, but not by a lot. Michelle thinks it looks hilarious to see something that normally weighs so little cause him trouble. Curious as to how it feels, she heads over to try it herself. They lift off the ground completely weightlessly. The three of them stare at the boots in surprise.

"Well then," Strange comments as he raises an eyebrow. "Have you been in the market for any new shoes recently?"

"No offense, but taking clothes from a dead guy is a little weird," Michelle comments in objection.

He counters with his own point, "And I'm not the first person to wear the Cloak of Levitation. Others before me used it that are likely long deceased."

That's... a fair argument that she can't think of a counter to. Looting a body for boots seems incredibly morbid, but they do look pretty cool. "What are they called?"

"The Vaulting Boots of Valtorr."

She flips them around to inspect them. "Neat."

* * *

The next day her parents return home. Considering how worried she was about returning home while Mordo was still out trying to kill her, it seems odd how safe and unaware her parents are here. They have no idea that she nearly died in this building just a few days ago. Her mother gives her some worried glances at the bruises on her face and arms so she tries to play it off as a bad fall down the stairs in the apartment building. It's not exactly a lie.

The scene is peaceful. Her parents are in a good mood since it's about to be Christmas and they'll both be in town for a couple weeks. This must be how it feels for people like Strange to do the things they do. It's not noticed by the general population like how things the Avengers do are, but it makes a difference and protects them. This sight makes it all worthwhile, Michelle thinks.

_Hey Mom and Dad, I think I finally know what I want to do with my life. One day, when I'm stronger, I want to save the world._

* * *

Now that she has some time, Michelle gets back to her Christmas project for Peter. Her last session of working on the enchantment ends up being on the night of Christmas Eve. She would have done it sooner, but with her parents home she had to wait for them to go to sleep. As with the previous times, the power requirement is immense and needs her to create several complicated glyphs that she doesn't understand. When the spell finally finishes a while later, the bracelet begins to glow and suddenly it shatters into several pieces scattered around her bedroom.

_No, no, no, no, no, please no._

Michelle wants to hit herself for her own idiocy. She really should have known better than to try and cast a spell she doesn't fully understand. It's too late to get a replacement bracelet since all the stores are closed now so she starts picking up the various pieces she can find. The girl finds seven of them and collects them on her desk. After trying to match which parts go together, she casts a small transmutation spell to attempt to meld them back to normal. It works, but only technically. The entire Spider-Man logo is now blurred out and all around the bracelet are lines where the cracks were.

It's ruined.

Michelle puts her head in her hands as she tries to think of what to do. She's going to look like a total idiot when she meets up with Peter and Ned tomorrow to pass around some presents. The only idea she has is to preemptively lower his expectations. It's 11:00 PM now so he's probably still awake. Getting out her phone, she texts Peter.

_MJ: I just accidentally broke your present. I tried putting it back together but it's ruined._

God, she feels pathetic. Thankfully Ned's present is already taken care of so her meetup with her friends won't be a total loss, but still. Michelle starts to think about going to sleep and hoping she'll forget about the whole thing when her phone interrupts her with a chime.

_Peter: can I come over?_

_MJ: knock on my window and i'll come outside. my parents are asleep._

The best thing she can do is to just give it to him now while they're alone so she starts working out what to say to him, but before she makes any headway 20 minutes have already passed and there's a knock on the window. Michelle texts him a quick message that she'll meet him outside and grabs the bracelet before leaving.

* * *

It's snowing. Not bad enough for it to stick to the roads, but it's enough that there will probably be some accumulation on the sidewalks tomorrow. Right outside the door to the building she sees Peter there waiting for her. Practically all of his nervous habits are on full blast which sends her tons of red flags.

"It's nice that you're trying to make me feel better by letting me give this to you alone, but it's not going to work," Michelle says as she casually drops the bracelet into his hands. The girl then looks away, finding literally anything else to be more interesting.

She can hear him fiddling with it for a moment before she hears, "Wait, is that a Spider-Man logo? Oh my god this is so cool!" He continues freaking out about it for a moment, but she's already tuned him out and not listening. She simply doesn't believe him. She's pulled back to reality when she feels him grab hold of her hand. "Really, MJ. This is great," he says as he draws close and kisses her. He's got a big and bright smile on his face and he's already put the gift on so maybe it's not as bad as she thought. All Michelle can do is shrug.

Peter seems disheartened by her actions and she feels guilty, but he shakes it off. "I actually wanted to come over here to give you mine," he says as he reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a small wooden box the size of the palm of his hand and hands it to her.

Inside is a pendant. The chain is a simple gold, but the pendant itself is in the shape of the symbol for the Masters of the Mystic Arts. Just like the large decorative window on the upper floor of the Sanctum, it has a circular frame with two pairs of criss-crossing circular gold lines with an emerald cradled in the center. It looks almost exactly like a small imitation of the Eye of Agamotto that Strange wears around.

_Oh my god._

Michelle is scared to ask how much it cost to have custom work like this done. She doesn't have a clue where he even got the money from since she was under the impression that Peter and May didn't have a whole lot of spare cash to go around. A huge wave of insecurity washes up and she physically has to take a step back from Peter. She can't handle this right now. Peter gave her this and all she gave him was essentially a pile of scrap metal that she glued together after breaking it. Her old reclusive instincts scream at her to run and hide, but she knows that if she does it will likely do irreparable harm to their relationship. So she stands there indecisively and unknowing of what to do or say.

"MJ?" Peter has an extremely nervous smile on his face. He's clearly scared of her reaction.

She just doesn't get it. Michelle never really has to be honest. Ever since he had first asked her out on a date she's always wondered what he saw in her. The idea of actually asking him terrifies her though. He might think she's just fishing for compliments to boost her ego, but it would be even worse if he didn't have an answer. Here though, out in the snow with the pendant in her hands, she can't think of anything else to say. "Why me? What did I do?" _What did I do to deserve you?_

"Have I ever told you how much you inspire me?"

The girl feels poleaxed by the question. She knows what each word independently means, but put together in a sentence it forms something she doesn't understand. "What?"

Peter runs a hand through his hair, "Sometimes when people talk about Spider-Man for doing something good, I end up feeling like a fraud. All the credit should be going to that weird radioactive spider and not me. Peter Parker is just some nerdy loser whose vision was so bad that he was practically blind and was allergic to everything on the planet. Then one day I wake up and all my health problems are magically gone and my vision is better than I could have ever dreamed of."

"Peter..." Michelle says before trailing off.

"After I got the hang of my new strength and stopped freaking out I started feeling like I had won the lottery at how much easier things were in my life. My prescription bills dropped a lot which I know Ben and May were happy about even if they never wanted to admit it. Then Ben died and I realized how selfish I was being. So I started out with the Spider-Man thing as a way to try and repay my debt to the universe I suppose and hopefully I could make up for my mistakes with Uncle Ben. The thing is though that I never earned this power. It's all the spider and not me. If you take away the spider, I'm still just that loser nobody. That's why I looked up to Mr. Stark so much. He's not jacked up on super drugs like Captain America or an alien god like Thor. He's just a guy. A really, really smart guy. And when you're some kid whose only strength is an interest in science and tech, that can mean a lot."

This is probably the most passionate she's seen Peter be about something in a long time so Michelle just remains silent and let him keep talking.

Peter flashes another nervous grin at her, "Don't take this the wrong way, but when I look at you I think a lot about how I would look up to Mr. Stark. I see a girl who is so smart that I'm just like, wow."

She has to interject, "Peter, we both know you're way better than me at Chemistry and Physics. You even invented your web fluid out of chemicals you stole from school to use in an improvised lab. There's a reason you are the primary science specialist on the decathlon team."

He waves her off, "Yeah, but you're better at literally everything else. Anyway, so after everything with Liz, I start realizing that this girl I see is probably the most brilliant person my age I've ever met and instantly I've got a crush on her. Like, I'm in deep. I don't do or say anything though because Peter Parker is still just a loser nobody and she probably doesn't like me much for bailing out on the most important decathlon meet of the year."

That's not entirely wrong. Up until she started putting together the puzzle that Peter Parker might be Spider-Man she was actually rather annoyed with him about his random absences. The realization puts an uneasy feeling in her stomach.

"But then this girl I've got a crush on starts learning magic. Actual, honest to god magic. As soon as I really understand it, I instantly ask her out because she has no idea just how far she's skyrocketing out of my league and I don't want her thinking that I only care about her because she's a sorceress. Here's the thing though. I'm still in this hole and trying to repay my debt, but you, you're blazing ahead in your own trail. This magic thing - that's all you. That's all Michelle Jones. There's no radioactive spider or other weird stuff. That's why I was comparing you to Mr. Stark. It's all you and nothing else. Every last bit of it is what you've earned. So when I take away my spider thing, I'm just this loser nobody who is looking at you and being completely blown away. All I see is a beautiful and brilliant girl that I wish I could be half as awesome as," Peter finally finishes with a small blush.

God. How do you even reply to something like that? It's clear that both of them have some deep insecurity issues, but she's not remotely qualified to help with it. She gets what he's trying to say though and it mirrors a lot of her thoughts from back when he first asked her out about how he was out of her league.

"Well, if I'm so awesome then my opinion has to count for something right?" Michelle asks. Peter dumbly nods. "Then you can take it from me that Peter Parker is pretty awesome too. I'm still cooler though," she tells him. Somewhere in her heart she thinks she's starting to feel emotions that she's not ready to acknowledge. Not yet, but maybe someday soon.

Peter chuckles softly, "That was never in doubt, MJ."

Michelle then realizes that she's still holding his gift to her and puts it on. "Thank you. I mean it," she says as and she leans over to kiss him.

A minute later an alarm goes off in his pocket and Peter pulls out his phone. After a quick glance he turns it around to show her with a bright smile. It's midnight. "Merry Christmas, MJ."

"Merry Christmas."

* * *

Epilogue:

This is pretty far up there in terms of weirdest conversations ever. The problem is that Michelle can't afford for her new Vaulting Boots of Valtorr to accidentally spill the secret of her magical training to her parents. It's pretty unlikely since the boots can't talk, but her parents might see them at some point or try and move them around to clean the apartment. So here Michelle is – in her apartment, talking to her boots and trying to convince them to lay off on refusing to be picked up by anyone else.

"I can't have you weighing 20 tons to my parents. They don't know about any of this."

Peter tries to pick up the boots. They refuse to budge.

"You don't need to do the whole jumping thing with anyone else. Just allow a few people to move you around."

Peter tries again. They're stuck to the ground.

"Please? That's my boyfriend trying to pick you up now. You can trust him."

Peter tries again, but nothing happens. He actually feels a little insulted.

"What if I promise to give you a full cleaning this weekend?"

This time they are easily lifted. Ned falls out of his chair in laughter.


	4. Somewhere Out There

**And here we go.**

* * *

Michelle Jones was in a good mood. It's an early Friday morning in March and the sun hasn't even come up yet. Climbing up to her roof via the fire escape, she puts in her earbuds, turns on some music, and takes a moment to dance in place to some jams while she looks around the city to plan her route.

She would have never imagined being a sorceress to be so physically demanding. When one thinks about the common fantasy trope of wizards, they think of people casting fireballs. The reality is so far from it that it's actually kind of comical. The vast majority of magical combat is done via hand-to-hand using conjured weapons and shields with other spells supplementing it. Of course various spells exist for more destructive things, but those are extremely difficult to do and are typically reserved for the Sorcerer Supreme.

While she's slowly getting used to the toll on her body, Michelle decided to take charge and do some of her own regular workouts. This leads her to now where she's getting ready for a morning run. Content with the route she has planned, she reaches out her arms in front of her as if feeling for something. A few seconds later she can feel her hands pressing against an invisible barrier. Gathering her power, Michelle pushes and reality seems to fall away for a moment. In front of her now stands a small wall of cracked glass that hovers in the air. A doorway to the Mirror Dimension.

Grinning, the girl runs through it all the way to the edge of the building and leaps. Her jump isn't remotely far enough to make it to the next roof, but as she begins to fall, a small orange glyph appears beneath her foot and she keeps her momentum going with another jump in the air.

It took quite a few literal leaps of faith (which were heavily supervised by her friends) before Michelle really trusted that her new Vaulting Boots of Valtorr were going to keep her safe. They're surprisingly handy and have three functions. The first is to create magical footholds so that she can "run" on air, the second is that they slow any fall to the ground, and the third is that they allow her to jump higher and greater distance. Not by a superhuman amount, but it is noticeable.

It's exhilarating in a way, jumping from roof to roof like this. It reminds her of the time that Peter carried her while he was swinging, just not as fast. Being in the Mirror Dimension allows her to go all out thanks to no one being able to actually see her and this freedom makes her feel at home. The uneven footing and leaps wear her out a lot faster than a normal jog though, so after a while she makes a portal back to the real world and takes a shower before heading to school.

* * *

Ned asks Betty out. Considering he's been talking about this for months, she's surprised he finally did it. He stays pretty silent on his plans for the date, but whatever. She'll probably end up hearing all about it from Betty anyway whether she wants to or not. Michelle and Peter spend their Friday night hanging out at his place and May is working a late shift so it's just the two of them. Of course, because they're a couple of teenagers their dinner consists entirely of popcorn.

"You ready for the ACT next week?" Michelle asks as she plops down with her bowl and leans back in the couch. As she sits, her eyes take note that he's wearing the bracelet she gave him for Christmas. As far as she could tell, he's worn it every day since then. She had offered several times to replace it with one that wasn't so damaged, but he keeps refusing. Apparently he prefers the one he has due to sentimental value. Inwardly, she agrees as she thinks about the new pendant she's wearing.

Peter splays himself out and dramatically sighs, "Please, just shoot me now."

She actually kind of feels the same. They're nearing the end of junior year in high school and there is so much college material being thrown at them that it's dizzying. Her summer plans already feel like they're going to be bloated while she tries to sort it all out. ACT, SAT, at some point it all just sounds the same.

Grabbing her sketchbook, Michelle points a pencil at him. "If I hear about you skipping out on prep tests for Spider-Man, I will sic May on you. This is important," she says.

"It's only the rest of our lives, right?" he replies sarcastically as he tosses some popcorn in his mouth.

The girl narrows her eyes, "I'm serious."

"I know," Peter answers as he smiles softly back to her. "Thanks for looking out for me."

Damn. That was certainly the right thing for him to say. "Well, someone has to do it so the job falls to your aunt and myself." Michelle throws a piece of popcorn at him which of course he easily catches in his mouth. Stupid spider reflexes. "You're still shooting for MIT, right?" she asks.

"Yep. Ideally, I'd be going to a school close to you though."

"I can teleport around the world in an instant, you dork. We can make this work so don't worry about distance and go for what you really want. I'll kick your ass if you don't," she says, glaring at her boyfriend.

Peter laughs lightly, "Yeah, you probably will. Have you thought much about what you'll do for an essay?"

"Not really," Michelle answers. Writing about her time as a sorceress would make Strange and Wong strangle her, but there aren't a lot of great ideas coming to mind. She's lived a mostly boring life until the past couple years. She'll have to talk about being captain of the decathlon team or something obvious like that. "I'd figure it would be easy for you. Just write about the work you do with Tony Stark and MIT would salivate at the thought of picking you up. You still meet up with him sometimes to work on stuff, right?"

He's silent for a while. "I don't like the idea of being accepted because of my connections. I'd rather feel like I earned it," he says eventually. She should have expected that response. It's a very Peter Parker thing to do. For a brief moment, Michelle feels ashamed of the fact that she took a deal last year with Strange to help her admissions by throwing his name around.

"Why all the interest in the future anyway? I know you don't usually like to talk about it," Peter asks curiously. It was a lesson he had learned early on in their friendship that Michelle never liked thinking about future careers or what she's going to do in college.

"I work with someone who can literally control time. It's a topic that comes up," Michelle dryly replies. "You know, I once thought about trying to learn how to use the Time Stone so that I could look into the future."

Peter's face crunches in thought, "I'll never get over how weird that is."

She barks out a short laugh before her voice turns more soft and reflective, "It is weird. A lot of magical theory discusses the multiverse so we talk about it during my training sessions. There was a day where we spoke about possible alternate versions of ourselves in other realities. Somewhere out there is a life where I get everything I've ever wanted and all my dreams come true. What does that life look like? What do I do for a living? That's why I was thinking about using the Time Stone. Maybe if I could see my ideal future, I could take steps towards trying to get there myself."

Peter's face twists in worry at the train of thought. "I'm not sure I follow. Are you not happy with how things are?" he asks hesitantly.

His voice snaps Michelle from her thoughts. Ah. He must be worried that he's not enough. She can clear that up at least. "Nah, I'm good. That's why I never tried it. If I did it, it would be like I was living someone else's life and not my own. Besides, who is to say that I'm not already living that one life?"

Slowly, a bright smile grows on his face. "Really?"

All Michelle does is let out a small grin and shrug, declining to explain.

_I have an amazing hobby and got to fall in love with you. Does anything else matter?_

* * *

The next morning, Michelle headed over to the Sanctum for an early morning Saturday training session. Life had certainly gotten a lot more interesting since Christmas. One new trick she had learned over the past few months was astral projection. Michelle doesn't have much of a use for it and it was very difficult to learn, but when Strange had mentioned that he would sometimes use it as a way to keep studying while his body slept, she was hooked. The idea of having an extra 6-8 hours a night to read or do homework was extremely attractive. It creeps the hell out of her friends though so she doesn't do it very much unless she's alone at home.

It took her a couple weeks after the fight with Mordo to work up the courage, but she asked Strange if she could tag along on some of his more dangerous responsibilities. He was surprised at the request, but Michelle had to see the extent of what she might end up doing someday. The only problem is that it just never really worked out that way. Thanks to the shield generated by the three Sanctums that protects the world, it's not all that often that things happen. Sometimes smaller things slip through or other "supernatural" activity pops up, but it's not like the sorcerers can put it off and wait for her to become available before dealing with it.

Missing these opportunities to effectively "job shadow" (in the most absurd of senses) doesn't bother her that much. It's the fact that she just has no baseline to tell if she's actually good enough to matter. Can she really make a difference? When will she know that she's ready? Today, she decides to be upfront and directly asks her teacher about her skill level.

"It seems that you should spend more time in Kamar-Taj again. You appear to not realize how powerful you are compared to your peers," Strange comments.

Huh? "No offense, but it's not like I've ever come remotely close to beating you in a spar," Michelle replies disbelievingly.

Strange's face twitches in impatience, "I am also the most powerful sorcerer of our order. What did you expect?" He contemplates elaborating before cutting himself off and changing tracks, "Look, you learn at a surprising pace considering that you still go to school. It will not be long before people are coming to you when they need assistance."

She wants to refute him. She really does, except she doesn't know how. It has been quite a while since she had last been to Kamar-Taj so it's possible he could be right. No matter how much she learns or how much she practices, she always feels like she's just not ready for anything important. Could it be because she has only been comparing herself to Strange all this time? Is she really just lacking perspective?

Michelle scratches the top of her head. "I guess I'll try and go back there sometime," she concedes.

* * *

They end the session a little before noon and Michelle is slightly surprised to see Wong show up, looking for Strange. The two of them meet up periodically to discuss ongoing threats to reality and other recent events. She's listened in a few times and it's usually not very interesting. Part of her wonders if it's just an excuse to meet up and gossip.

While packing up her things near the main entrance to the Sanctum and getting ready to head home, Michelle hears Strange's voice carry up towards her. "Seriously? You don't have any money?" he asks Wong.

The two of them begin descending the main staircase nearby her. Strange is dressed in some casual clothes and must be heading out. "Attachment to the material is detachment from the spiritual," Wong counters.

"I'll tell the guys at the deli. Maybe they'll make you a metaphysical ham on rye."

Wong starts digging through his robes and sash. "Wait, wait, wait. I think I've got 200," he says as he pulls out some bills.

"Dollars?" Strange asks

"Rupees."

"Which is?"

"Uh, A buck and a half?" Wong then looks hopefully over to Michelle.

Before he can say a word, she interjects, "Don't even think about trying to bum me for cash. You guys don't pay me." Actually, that's a really good question. Do the sorcerers even have finances? Is there a budget? Where does the money come from?

Strange sighs and looks over to Wong, "What do you want?"

"I wouldn't say no to a tuna melt," the other man answers sheepishly.

Grabbing her bag, Michelle slides on her sling ring and begins to make a portal home. Before she can finish, she's thrown off her feet and falls to the floor when the staircase next to her explodes in a bright white light. Wooden planks and splinters shower everywhere and she covers her head. After it calms down, she gets up and sees that the same thing happened to Strange and Wong. There's a huge hole in the ceiling so something must have fallen through?

The three of them creep up the stairs to the huge hole now in the middle and peer down. She knows that face. It's all over every science classroom in Midtown. There in the middle of the rubble, crashed all the way through to the foundation of the building, is Bruce Banner. Except like, without a shirt on? The hell?

"Thanos is coming. Thanos is coming." he weakly says.

The three sorcerers all look between each other with confused faces. "Who?" Strange asks.

* * *

They don't manage to get much information out of him. The guy is practically hysterical and insisting that some guy called Thanos is going to destroy the world. He then demanded to get in contact with the Avengers. Normally it's the kind of thing she'd just write off as an insane homeless guy, but this is Dr. Banner. He would probably know what he's talking about.

"I'll call Stark," she offers as Wong takes Dr. Banner into a back room to get changed and cleaned up. Strange nods in agreement and heads to the back with Wong.

Michelle pulls out her phone. This should be an odd conversation. Pulling up the old contact info from when he messaged her so long ago, she gives him a call. He picks up on the third ring.

"Tony Stark," he bluntly introduces himself.

"This is Michelle Jones. I need to pick you up for a possible end of the world type thing. Where are you?"

An annoyed groan, "Please don't tell me that the kid has gotten himself in over his head on something. I've got this real strict deal with his aunt to keep her from suing me."

Wow. That's some hilarious blackmail material. She wonders if Peter is even aware. "He isn't here. I'm calling in my official capacity as a Sorceress of the Mystic Arts to say that I need your help. Right now."

"Wait, does this mean I can stop pretending to not know that you somehow went to Hogwarts and came back as Hermione?" he asks excitedly, completely forgetting the actual reason that she's calling. "Part of that deal I mentioned is that I have to review his suit footage and I've got to say, there's some parts in there that show you doing some _really interesting_ stuff. That whole thing with the crazy wizard stalker guy? Not bad. Fairly impressed. Takes a lot of guts to do something like that."

Jesus Christ. Did he not hear the "end of the world" part? Michelle wants to slam her head into every wall in New York. How the hell does Peter put up with this guy? "I have Bruce Banner here raving about the end of the world. I need your location," she grinds out.

That seems to finally bring him up short. "Bruce?" he asks, baffled, "He's back? Yeah. Yeah, go ahead and bring me over. FRIDAY, tell her where I am."

Moments later her phone chimes with a text that contains a link to a map. Looks like he's out for a run in the park? Regardless, she knows the place. Michelle puts away her phone, slides on her sling ring, and makes a portal. A few steps away stands Tony Stark and _oh my god it's Pepper Potts_. As one of the most important women in the world, Michelle's always wanted to meet her. Unfortunately, now's not really the time.

Stark steps away from Pepper and says, "Hey Pep, I've got to go. Bruce is back and might be in some trouble." She's a little speechless at seeing the portal and just nods to go along with it. As he steps through, he takes a long look at the ring of light before pointing at Michelle. "We are so talking all about how this works later. First though, where's Bruce?"

"Tony," the man in question speaks up from the top of the stairs now wearing some clean clothes. Banner walks down and pulls Stark into a big hug. "This is bad, Tony. Real bad," he says after they break apart.

Sensing the seriousness of the situation, Stark's mood practically plummets. "All right then. Hit me with it. What's going on?"

* * *

The picture that Banner paints is on a scale so massive that it's actually difficult for her to properly understand. While she had been looking for opportunities to tag along on, this might just be a _tad bit_ too much. An alien named Thanos wants to destroy half of the entire universe and all he has to do to accomplish it is acquire the six Infinity Stones. This makes Strange one of his top targets. Wonderful. So the aliens are coming back to Earth, Thanos already has two of the stones, and Thor is dead. The fact that Banner seems absolutely terrified gives her a sinking feeling in her gut. Isn't the Hulk supposed to be unbeatable?

Just how many living beings are there in the universe? The concept of potentially trillions of lives being at risk is beyond her ability to process. It sounds cartoonish and so far detached from anything remotely resembling reality.

Michelle pops out her phone while Wong gives a quick refresher course on the Infinity Stones. She is already loosely aware of what they are, but she's only ever cared about the Time Stone for obvious reasons. Staring at her screen, she debates if it's a good idea to get Peter involved in this because another invasion from outer space is something she'd like to try and keep him away from for his own protection. But on the other hand, they deserve chances to make sure their families are safe. She knows she'll regret it, but decides to warn Peter and Ned. It's not like they know yet when the attack will actually happen. It might not be for a long time.

_MJ: something really big is going on. alien invasion inc. stark here talking with strange about it._

_MJ: no eta_

Her phone instantly explodes in notifications with questions from the two, but she just doesn't have time to read them right now or explain so she mutes it and puts it away.

Tony Stark broaches the big question, "If Thanos needs all six, why don't we just throw this one down the garbage disposal?"

"No can do," Strange immediately refuses.

Wong elaborates, "We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone with our lives."

"And I swore off dairy," Stark argues, "but then Ben and Jerry's named a flavor after me."

Stark's point is valid. If they destroy the stone, the worst part of the threat would be over. The problem is that the Time Stone is a valuable trump card against the worst of the extra-dimensional threats. In the short term, destroying the stone makes the most sense. The long run though... Part of Michelle is happy that she's not the one who would be making that kind of decision.

Strange refuses to give it up, "This stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos."

"Conversely, it may also be his best chance against us," Stark presses.

The two of them start speaking more aggressively toward each other. "Not if we do our jobs," the sorcerer denies.

Frustration builds up within Stark about the refusal to destroy the stone, "What exactly is your job? Besides making balloon animals."

"Protecting your reality, douchebag." Strange bites back. Honestly, Michelle is kind of on Stark's side there. It's not like he has any way of knowing what the sorcerers actually exist for considering they live in secret.

The air is tense between the two of them so Banner jumps in to clam everyone down and change topics. The Avengers are in possession of the Mind Stone, except Vision has it and they don't know where he is.

"Who could find Vision then?" Strange asks.

As if the answer burned him to say, Stark responds, "Probably Steve Rogers."

Huh? What is Captain America going to do to track him down? "Why him? Aren't you the one with all the tracking tech?" Michelle asks as she speaks up for the first time.

Frustrated, Stark explains, "I try and turn a blind eye to it, but Vision probably went off to go see Wanda again. Rogers would know where she is since they're on the run as fugitives together."

Michelle knows she doesn't follow Avengers stuff too closely, but she thought Vision was a robot or something. It's romantically involved with the Scarlet Witch? How does that work? Realizing that it's none of her business, Michelle shakes herself from her thoughts.

Stark's statement blows Banner away, "Fugitives!? What happened while I was gone? No, it doesn't matter. Tony, if we don't get everyone involved on this the whole universe will be affected. Can't you call him or something?"

An old flip phone is pulled from Stark's pocket and he opens it before hesitating. In that moment it slowly becomes clear to everyone in the room that something is wrong. There's a slight rumble in the ground and a slowly growing gust of wind blowing through the hole in the roof where Banner fell through. With each passing second it gets stronger and louder. As they turn to look at the door, they see people all running in one direction. Then the screaming starts.

Heading to the door, Stark opens it up and starts pushing against the crowds to see what's going on. Michelle follows Strange and Wong through the chaos. People stumble and fall, then nearly get trampled over. A car rolls up and hits a pole nearby her. Dust is being blown everywhere from powerful winds with a loud thrumming noise in the air. Rounding a corner, she sees what's going on. An alien spaceship in the shape of a ring has arrived in New York.

_Holy shit. They're already here._

* * *

Michelle continues to follow the more senior sorcerers, but Strange takes a moment to cast a spell she doesn't recognize. With mere hand gestures, he blows away all the dust in the air and stops the wind gusts. The casualness shown with such a spell takes her aback and leaves Michelle feeling quite out of her depth.

_I don't think I'm ready for this. This is just too much. What am I doing here? I'm literally walking towards an alien invasion. Fighting Mordo was one thing, but this?_

It's almost as if she's not in control of her own body. She watches as two creatures of some kind appear via a blue light projected from the spaceship. One is roughly human size and shape, but the other is a gigantic brute of some kind. Maybe twice as tall as a regular person and carrying a massive hammer/claw weapon. There's some kind of trash talk going on between Stark, Strange, and the smaller alien, but she doesn't pay attention to it as she weakly tries to encourage herself to avoid looking like an idiot.

Then Stark pulls out the most futuristic nanotech sci-fi bullshit she's ever seen as a suit of armor literally flows over him like water and blasts away the large alien with some kind of beam weapon that would only be seen in a movie.

That's what ends up being the breaking point. Seeing first hand evidence of just how dangerous the situation is makes her realize that no, she probably shouldn't be here at all. Despite her trying to psych herself up, she's simply outclassed. It must be obvious to the others because Strange turns to her and begins opening a portal. "Both of you should not be here right now. Michelle, keep Dr. Banner safe," he says as he finishes. A portal appears beneath their feet and they fall through to land on grass somewhere.

Michelle looks around to get her bearings and notices they're short ways away in Washington Square Park. Standing, she can hear a loud rumbling in the distance and moments later the wall of a nearby building explodes as Iron Man comes crashing through it, wrapped in some kind claw-chain thing before skidding across the grass into a tree next to them.

Banner runs over to Stark to check on him which Michelle thinks might be the stupidest thing she's ever seen. The sheer scale of this fight is so far beyond her that she needs to get away, but she is also tasked with Banner's safety so she heads over to the other two and applies rule number one – always keep something between you and an incoming attack.

There's no sight of the creature yet, but she faces the area where Iron Man came from and begins to reach out and make a Mirror Dimension entry point. As she gets the feeling she needs, Stark calls out, "Hammer!"

Looking up, Michelle's eyes widen at the sight of the gigantic chain weapon coming right at them from a distance. It's moving too fast to dodge so she desperately tries to finish her spell. Just like yesterday morning, she pushes and reality itself cracks in the air in front of her. A powerful gust of wind blows through them as the mighty hammer harmlessly goes through the dimensional portal and the girl swipes her arm to dispel the barrier as the chain finishes extending. With the front half of the chain now trapped in another dimension, the alien's weapon snaps in half with a thunderous crack. The relief is so heavy that her legs nearly out from beneath her.

"Get out of here!" Stark shouts as he takes off again to fight the beast.

Yeah. Yeah, that sounds like an absolutely wonderful idea. Grabbing Banner's arm, she pulls him away as he protests while she starts to make a portal back to the Sanctum to hide. Nearby to her right there is a booming crash of something landing on the grass. Expecting to see Iron Man getting beat up, she looks to the side and actually sees the large creature landing just a few meters away from a leap and now moving towards Banner and her.

She's paralyzed. Her mind knows she's fine, but she can't will her body to move. It's completely frozen from fear as the creature runs over to her. In that moment, Michelle is certain that she's going to die. Stark is flying toward her from a ways out and is continuously blasting it, however the thing just brushes off the attacks harmlessly.

_So this is how it ends. If the Iron Man armor can't hurt him, what hope do I have?_

As she stands there, it picks her up effortlessly by the waist and throws her across the park into a wall. Snapping out of her trance, Michelle panics and creates a portal to literally anywhere else before she impacts. Her Vaulting Boots of Valtorr try their best to slow down her airspeed and she finds herself rolling into a sand dune in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Taking a moment to catch her breath, she makes a new portal to head back to look for Banner. She finds him trapped under some tree branches and faintly green as if he was trying to transform into the Hulk.

"Dr. Banner, we need to get the hell out of here! Come on!" she shouts frantically as she pulls on him again and he gets up, willing to follow her for once. They run into a nearby store and find it empty. Clearly everyone has run away. Crouching down behind the register counter, Michelle wonders if she's having a panic attack. She feels so far in over her head that she can't even see the surface anymore.

"Where did all this sand come from?" Banner mutters to himself.

She snaps at him, "Africa. How can you be so calm about this?"

"You can go that far?" he asks in fascination.

If she was in a better mood, her eyes would be spinning into orbit right now. This is not the time for this. "I can go anywhere in the world as long as I know what it looks like and a general idea of where it is," she explains as she looks outside. Iron Man now has backup. Out there is Peter in the Spider-Man suit, throwing a car at the creature via a web.

"Who is that?" Banner asks, but she doesn't answer. With the brute's weapon being broken, he has resorted to attacking Stark by just throwing everything in sight. Cars, lamp posts, chunks of concrete, whatever. A short time later they both watch as Dr. Strange flies by with the Cloak of Levitation. It almost looked like he was passed out? Stark seems to yell something at Peter and Spider-Man goes off in chase of Strange.

Michelle pulls out her phone and calls Ned. It answers instantly and she doesn't even give him a chance to say hello, "I know you're watching. Tell me what's going on."

"Mr. Stark just told Peter to chase after the wizard. There's some creepy guy floating on a whirlwind of bricks chasing too. Wait. Wait. He's got him! No. He's being beamed up into the spaceship, MJ! I'm losing signal!" Ned exclaims in pure word vomit.

She runs outside to get a look, completely ignoring the danger from the ongoing fight between Iron Man and the larger brute. Off in the distance there is a blue light coming down from the spaceship and she can see a few things being pulled in.

_No, no, no, no, no! Did Peter just run out here because of the message I sent? Is this my fault?_

In a span of practically sixty seconds, everything fell apart. With a shaky voice, Michelle tells him, "I think I need to go. Something really bad might be about to happen, Ned. Just, just keep an eye on your family, okay?"

It's silent for a minute, "Okay, MJ." She disconnects the call. There's a roar of thrusters as Iron Man takes off after the spaceship.

_Peter got sucked up into outer space, half of the universe is at stake, and I ran away. I ran away and hid in a store._

"I'm such a coward," Michelle whispers to herself as her heart shatters into pieces.

* * *

It takes a few minutes, but she's able to force herself to try and be optimistic. As far as she could guess, there was only the one smaller alien on board the ship at the time they were sucked up so there's a very real chance they could commandeer it and come back home. Besides, Iron Man got on it too. Stark, Strange, and Peter are effectively the three strongest people she knows. It's this thought that might be the only thing keeping her sane and she grabs hold of it with all her might.

With the sound of battle coming to an end, Michelle and Banner head back out to where the fight took place and find Wong there. _Where did the big alien thing go?_ Brushing himself off, Wong makes a portal back to the Sanctum and steps through.

"The Time Stone has been taken and the Sanctum remains unguarded. I must return. What will you do?" he asks Banner.

Leaning over and peering into the rubble, Banner finds that old flip phone that Stark had earlier. Opening it reveals a single pre-programmed contact for Steve Rogers. "I'm going to make a call," he answers as he turns away.

"What about me?" Michelle asks Wong before he closes the portal.

Hesitating for a moment and not entirely sure, he says, "You should come to the Sanctum as well."

Her mind processes through possible options. Her number one priority right now is to figure out if Peter is alright. Number two would be Strange and the Time Stone. Following that is everything else. The problem is that she simply can't get that kind of update from the sorcerers. It's not like they have an intergalactic communications system.

Glancing to the side, Michelle sees Dr. Banner yelling on the phone with who she assumes is Captain America. That might work. The Avengers compound may have the resources needed to know if they're fine. Maybe if she takes Banner there, they won't ask her too many questions and kick her out. This might be tricky if she has to explain because she doesn't want to be the one to give up Spider-Man's identity to people who don't already know it. Playing herself off as just an extremely concerned apprentice could work.

"I'll come in a while," Michelle tells Wong before pointing her thumb over to the scientist. "He probably needs to get to the Avengers so I'll take him there first," Wong nods in agreement and closes his portal.

Turning her attention to Banner, she starts listening in on the phone call. "They're after the Mind Stone Steve! You've got to find Vision and get him out of there! Yes, right now! Yes. Okay," he says before hanging up and closing the phone. The man lets out a long and deep sigh as he looks up to the sky.

"Dr. Banner," she speaks up to get things moving along, "You need to get to the Avengers compound, right? I'll take you there." At his nod, she goes ahead and creates a portal just like she did so long ago when Peter had crawled through her window, nearly dead on his feet.

The compound is a ghost town. She doesn't see or hear a single other person. The layout of the building isn't something she's familiar with so she looks over to Banner hoping he does, but he seems as equally lost as her. Has he never been here before? After a few minutes of aimless wandering, a male voice she doesn't recognize speaks up from the room ahead.

"Bruce, is that you?"

Banner's eyes seem to light up in recognition and jogs ahead to meet up with the man, "Rhodey, good to see you." As Michelle walks up and turns a corner, she's able to see him now. Straining her memory to recall all of the Avengers she realizes that this is Colonel Rhodes – War Machine.

The two men share a quick hug. "FRIDAY told me you were spotted alive, but I didn't believe it until now. Uh, who is your friend?" he asks as he notices Michelle.

"Michelle Jones," she introduces herself and shakes his hand.

The gears turning in his mind are practically visible, "Wait. You're the girl Peter is dating, aren't you? I'm James Rhodes. What the hell are you doing here with Bruce?"

Peter must have met Rhodes during one of the days he worked with Stark. "I brought him here," is all she says, choosing to remain vague just in case.

Rhodes nods. "Listen, I'll talk to you in a little bit," he says before turning his attention to Banner, "Bruce, please tell me you know what in the hell is going on out there. The Secretary of State is on my ass for details that I simply don't have!"

Banner starts going into his whole story about Thanos and his hunt for the Infinity Stones. Too emotionally exhausted to talk about how much she likely screwed up at the fight in the city, the girl decides she just wants to be alone for a while. Michelle uses Banner's story as an opportunity to slip away unnoticed and wanders the halls of the compound.

* * *

After a little exploring, she finds a training room where she kills some time.

_I'm not brave enough._

Michelle swings out her arm and lashes at a dummy with a magical whip.

_I'm not strong enough._

Spinning around as if to dodge an invisible attack, she then hits it again.

_And because of that, the stupid boy I'm in love with, my teacher, and the Time Stone are lost in space. Because of me. Because I wasn't good enough. If I was out there, I could have made a portal for Strange to fly through and escape. I could have tried to help. I could have done literally anything at all._

Bringing up all of her anger, she strikes a final time at the dummy. It explodes in a shower of rubber and padded stuffing.

_But no. I didn't do any of that. I ran away._

An appreciative whistle snaps her back to reality. Rhodes was apparently watching her. "So you're the mythical MJ I've heard so much about from the Spider-Kid. He certainly never mentioned any of this," he says as he points to the remains of the dummy. "When you told me you brought Bruce here, you were really underselling just how you did so. He said you were at the earlier attack?"

Well, that confirms that he knows Peter is Spider-Man. Closing her eyes to keep herself from getting irrationally angry at him, Michelle responds, "Peter and Dr. Strange are gone. I have to hope that they can hijack a spaceship and turn around. You'll understand if I say I'm having a bad day. I'm just here because you guys would know first if they come back."

"Peter went up there too?" he asks, surprised. The man wipes a hand over his face. "Bruce didn't tell me that. Jesus. I wish I could tell you that I had good news on that front."

There's a long moment where Rhodes just seems lost in thought. "Did you need something?" she bluntly asks.

Shaking his head, he replies, "No. Not really. I don't mind if you stay here since it sounds like I wouldn't be able to keep you out anyway. Wish we had more time to talk though. Peter's a good kid. Bruce got word back from Steve and his group that they've picked up Vision and are on the way here. There might be some, uh, political issues so I'm going to have to ask you to stay away from the meeting rooms. FRIDAY will notify you immediately if we hear anything." The man then leaves.

She can't even begin to imagine what kind of problems bringing back the fugitives will cause so she's happy to stay out of the way. Learning that the Mind Stone is secure should be uplifting news, but she can't find it within her to care because it's simply not the kind of update she wants to hear right now. Looking to the side of the training room, Michelle finds a chair off to the side and sits down.

With no other option, she waits and hopes.

* * *

A few hours later, Michelle can hear a commotion coming towards her down the hall. The door to the training room she's in bursts open and in floods the entire crew of Avengers, including the not-so-legal ones. She thinks there's no way this could possibly be good news if they're all looking for her.

Banner points at her. "Her."

Steve Rogers (_how did my life get to the point where I'm meeting Captain America in person?_) is aghast, "She's a kid, Bruce. What are you thinking? You want to take her with us?"

"So? She's a wizard, Steve! I watched her snap a several thousand pound hammer in half!", the scientist argues back. That comment certainly draws her a lot of looks.

The words aren't directed at her and they're intended in a positive manner as a way to talk her up, but the reminder of how she could have actually helped at the battle if she had just fucking _tried_ might be the most devastating insult ever laid against her.

Michelle needs to jump in before she somehow gets dragged into whatever in the hell this is, "Wong said he needs me back at the Sanctum to guard it so I need to get going." It's a terrible excuse and they both know it. If it was really true, she would have gone back immediately after dropping Banner off at the compound.

Banner takes a long look at her before deciding not to call her out on it and giving up, "Fine. You told me that you could create those portals anywhere, right? We need to get to Wakanda to remove the Mind Stone and destroy it. Can you send us there?"

Shrugging, Michelle asks "Can you give me some images and maps from the area?" Holographic images pop up all around her on the wall. Wakanda sure looks like one hell of a place. She'd like to go sometime.

Portals don't just require an image of the destination. You also need context. If you had two identical rooms side by side, how would the spell know which one to end up in? To accomplish this, zooming out and getting a general idea of the location in addition to the image is usually sufficient. Concentrating on the picture of what looks like the most important building, Michelle creates a portal in the middle of the room.

The appearance of the ring of light immediately silences the others, largely in surprise.

Pausing, Natasha (_holy shit it's the Black Widow_) asks, "Who are you?"

Giving personal information to a world renowned super spy is probably not a good idea, but some of the other Avengers already know who she is so she's bound to figure it out anyway. "Michelle Jones."

The answer satisfies the woman and she steps through, followed by the others. Michelle finds herself all alone in the compound.

"Such a coward," she mutters to herself.

* * *

The Sanctum is quiet. The nearby area is still evacuated from the earlier attack so there isn't even any ambient noise from traffic or pedestrians. When she returns, Michelle finds Wong sitting in a chair by the front entrance. The stairs are still destroyed from Banner's earlier crash.

"Now what?" she asks quietly as she sits down nearby him.

Wong hesitates and puts his head in his hands, "I don't know. I've already notified the others."

If she's not going to Wakanda, then Michelle knows that there isn't going to be much else she can do. It seems like waiting is all she knows these days. What a joke.

"The fugitive Avengers found Vision and brought him to the compound. They're all headed out to Wakanda to try and remove the stone and destroy it," she offers as an update. Wong just nods his head in acknowledgment.

The thing is, Michelle doesn't have much faith that the other Avengers can pull this off. If this Thanos guy is as strong as Banner made him out to be, it's all over if he gets the Time Stone. She's fully aware of what kinds of things it's capable of. If he fails, he could likely just keep trying over and over again through time manipulation. A disgusting thought strikes her. Even if they destroy the Mind Stone, could Thanos revert it back to normal? Strange had once demonstrated using the Time Stone to restore an apple and the same logic might apply. Does this really come down to if they're able to escape the spaceship with the Time Stone?

Finally accepting the fact that there's a high chance she's never going to see Peter again, Michelle starts to feel tears falling freely down her face. Where did she go wrong? Should she have dropped school and focused full time on her magical studies and training? Would that have kept everyone safe? Unable to think of anything other than what-ifs, she wonders if she'll ever be able to forgive herself if the worst comes to pass.

Time goes by unnoticed by the two of them and the sounds of the city slowly return to the outside world. Her phone chimes with a news alert. More alien spaceships seen on the outskirts of Wakanda. She turns it around to show Wong, but he says nothing. "I'm going to make a call," Michelle says and she walks into a back room. Her relationship with her parents is complicated and even strained at times, but she thinks she gets it. They care, but they just have trouble showing it. The fact that they're gone so often is what really hurts, but she isn't sure how much of that is by choice. Still, they're her parents.

Her call to them doesn't even ring and goes right to voicemail. Swallowing back her disappointment, Michelle begins to leave a message, "Hey Mom and Dad." She wants to tell them all about what she's been doing the past year. She wants to show them the places she's been and the kinds of things she can do. She wants them to be proud of her, but in this moment she simply doesn't know what to say. "Give me a call back as soon as you can. I love you," Michelle eventually says and hangs up.

"Fuck!" she screams in self-loathing and punches a wall.

* * *

Forty minutes later, Michelle and Wong are broken from their somber thoughts when they hear screaming and the sound of car crashes coming from outside. The two of them get up and race to the door to find a scene of pure chaos. People everywhere are disintegrating into dust and ash in the streets while others run away in terror. Vehicles are left empty of their drivers and slam into each other. One even runs up on the sidewalk where it hits someone.

The girl gets out her phone and starts calling everyone she can think of. Ned. No answer. May. No answer. Her parents again. No answer. Betty. No answer. One by one she starts calling all her friends on the decathlon team. No answer. Over and over she tries each person, but no one ever picks up.

_Oh my god. This is it._

Distantly, Michelle realizes that this means Thanos got the Time Stone and that Peter is almost certainly dead. Looking at the madness in the street, she thinks back to her conversation from last night. Somewhere out there is a life where she gets everything she ever wanted and all her dreams come true. To think she believed she might be living that life. She's such a fool. Such a fucking fool. Feeling numb, Michelle wishes that she had turned to dust too.

_Half of the universe. And I just ran away._

No one calls her back.

* * *

Epilogue:

Somewhere in outer space, on a far away planet called Titan, Peter Parker was having a bad day. In fact, he thinks it might be the worst day imaginable. He could have gone home. He really could have, but instead he decided to hitch a ride on the spaceship. Mr. Stark and even the wizard's cloak chewed him out for that one. Even worse, they lost the fight against Thanos. Unsure of what to do now that Thanos has left, Peter headed over to where Mr. Stark was to help him up and hope he has a plan.

MJ's boss had been looking at him weird ever since he looked into the future. No, maybe he was more looking at his arm? He isn't sure. Regardless, the looks bother him because they imply a lot. What did he see? The wizard never looked at him sadly or pityingly so it can't be that bad, right? He looked more curious. That's the best word he can think of.

_**RUN**_

Frantically, he begins looking around for a possible threat. Peter has never felt his danger senses spike up that hard before. Seeing nothing, the boy tries to force himself to calm down, but it keeps screaming at him that something is wrong. After a moment, the weird alien girl with antennas notices it and perks up. "Something's happening," she says before suddenly turning into dust and drifting away in the wind. Gaping, no one says a word as it starts spreading. The shirtless grey guy goes, the other Peter, and even MJ's boss that he can never remember the name of.

With a horrible realization, he can feel it happening to himself. It starts with the feeling of the bottom dropping out of his stomach and spreads as if he was being hollowed out. "Mr. Stark. I don't feel so good," he says as he stumbles over to the man. "I don't want to go. I don't want to go," he pleads over and over even though he knows there's nothing his idol can do about it.

With a small flash he's pushed away him and falls to the ground. His left wrist starts getting hotter and hotter and soon enough it feels like it's going to burn his skin. To get a better look, Peter has the nanotech from the suit retract on his arm. The Spider-Man bracelet that MJ got him for Christmas is glowing hot white and feels like it's going to sear his skin. He reaches over to yank it off with his right hand, but before he does, a faint blue bubble of sorts appears around him briefly before vanishing. The bracelet then starts cooling down and disintegrates into dust just like the others.

A moment passes where he's frozen stiff. Peter doesn't dare move for fear of the universe realizing what might have just happened. Another moment. Slowly, he moves his arms and pats himself over to reassure himself that he still exists. "I'm still here?" he asks in amazement?

"Kid, what the fuck!?"

* * *

**And this is everything I've written so far. Next update will be delayed for a brief hiatus while I wait for Endgame to come out.**


	5. This Path I've Taken Pt 1

**So this chapter isn't really anything that could be considered part of Endgame. It's more of a logical extension of Infinity War. Please be aware that in the VERY NEAR FUTURE this will start containing some Endgame spoilers as this story will use parts of that canon.**

* * *

Michelle Jones isn't sure how she got home. There's a big blank space in her memory between when half of the universe turned to dust and now. The only thing she can recall is staring at all the wall for hours, dead to the world, with the sound of screaming about the end of days and crying coming from the various apartment units near her. How long has it even been? Hours? Days? The only things she knows right now are the feeling of being a complete failure and the belief that she may have just lost much more than her heart can take. Voicemails were left and texts were sent to everyone she knows, trying to confirm if they're still alive, but no one has responded.

There's a saying that it's not the fall that kills you. It's the impact. That's roughly how Michelle thinks she feels right now. She's falling, but doesn't see the ground yet.

The next time she has conscious thought, she finds that she has been blankly looking at the television, which has done nothing but play the emergency broadcast signal ever since the incident. A quick check reveals that it is now Sunday morning, the day after the event. Unwilling to accept the idea that so much has been taken from her, Michelle grabs a notebook from her school supplies and rips out a piece of paper. On it she makes a list containing the names of everyone she's ever cared about.

First, she digs up the phone number for the hotel in Seattle that her parents were staying at and calls it. Busy signal. Dragging a hand over her face, Michelle forces herself to not think the worst and moves on. It's possible that there is just no service in the area. There are reports of planes and helicopters literally falling out of the sky due to the pilots vanishing so phone service going out isn't too far out of the question.

As captain of the Academic Decathlon team, Michelle has everyone's address and contact info. Using that, she starts to map out a plan. She's going to just go to their homes directly and see who is left.

* * *

If Michelle wasn't already emotionally devastated before, going outside was absolutely soul wrenching. Car wrecks block roads as far as the eye can see. Mass transit is completely shut down. Looters are on every corner and no one tries to stop them. The few outside that aren't involved wander the sidewalks with blank faces and eyes. Michelle thinks she might look the same. A few begin preaching in the streets for various religions. Screams from parents calling for their missing children haunt her every step.

Her first stop is to find May. If she's still around, she might be beyond freaked out about Peter. She knocks on the door when she arrives, but there is no answer. Looking around, Michelle finds a hidden maintenance room that she slips into and discreetly makes a portal right into the apartment. Inside, she hears the sound of a TV still playing the emergency broadcast signal near the kitchen. She heads over there and finds a single cup of cold coffee on the table. In a chair next to it is a pile of ash and dust. Closing her eyes and taking some long, pained breaths, Michelle moves on.

_May Parker - remains found._

Ned's place isn't too far so she goes there after. The moment she knocks on the door, it almost immediately opens and the faces of his parents appear with eyes full of desperate hope. When they realize she isn't their son, Michelle watches as their spirits are crushed before she even says a word.

_Ned Leeds - parents confirmed death/missing_

The shout of a young child is heard when Michelle rings the doorbell at Cindy's home, "Mom! Dad! You're back!" The door opens and reveals a boy no more than 8 or 9 years old. She had no idea that Cindy had a younger brother.

Fearing the question she's about to voice, Michelle asks, "I'm a friend of Cindy's. Is she home? Are your parents here?"

The boy shakes his head. "I was taking a nap and when I woke up they were all gone. I'm waiting for them to come home," he says resolutely, as if it were a statement of fact.

Michelle feels her mouth open and close several times wordlessly while her mind races in despair. Fuck, how is she supposed to tell a child his entire family is dead? It's not like she can leave him here alone anyway. It's not safe and he'll need food-

"Excuse me," comes a voice to her side. It's a middle aged woman that she doesn't know. "I live next door and am taking care of him. Who are you?"

Oh thank god. At least someone is taking care him. "Michelle Jones. I was looking for Cindy, but..." she trails off. At the older woman's shake of her head, Michelle lets out a shuddering breath. "Okay. Thanks."

_Cindy Moon - missing along with parents_

After walking a distance away, Michelle sits down on the edge of the curb and pulls her knees in to rest her forehead on them before bursting into tears. Even in her darkest fears, the reality she's living in keeps shaping up to be even worse. The realization that there are now likely a couple hundred million orphaned children is staggering. And she didn't even try to stop it.

The girl knows she's essentially torturing herself at this point, but she has to continue on. Maybe this is her punishment for running away. To see the devastation first hand and to watch the hope fade from their eyes as they realize she isn't the one they're looking for.

The list goes on and on until nearly every single person is crossed off. All of them. Abe, Charles, Sally, and even Flash. All of them. All that's left are just her parents and Peter.

She pulls out her phone and tries to call them again and the hotel they're staying in, but the call can't get through. Desperate to know that she hasn't lost everything, Michelle looks up the address and map, then portals herself to Seattle. The fact that she'd have to explain to them how she got there doesn't matter to her anymore.

Once inside the hotel, she sees a single horribly disheveled and broken man in the lobby with a stack of paper. Seeing no one else around, she walks up to him and asks, "Do you work here? I'm looking for two people staying here."

The man looks up and with a dead and emotionless voice, he answers, "We already checked the rooms and are trying to get it reported to the police." No wonder why he looks so broken. He spent the day the same way she has by checking to see who is still alive. "Who are you looking for?"

"Last name of Jones."

He flips through some pages, then looks up and her and simply shakes his head and says, "I'm sorry."

Michelle turns around and walks away, feeling like she's just been punched in the stomach. She manages to hold herself together for a full twenty seconds after returning home before falling apart.

If she was falling before, she thinks she just hit the ground.

* * *

Michelle wakes with her head still on the kitchen table, having cried herself to sleep last night after confirming the death of her parents. She can barely muster the motivation to stand. It just feels like there's no point. Everyone is dead. Why the hell is she still alive?

A quick check of what news is available reveals the world going to shit. Rioting has started in some countries because no explanation has been given as to why their loved ones are gone. The governments of the world are either unwilling to answer because of how crazy the truth is or they're just as in the dark as everyone else. Considering how quickly everything has happened, Michelle assumes it's probably the latter.

One of her neighbors knocks on her door to see if someone was still in the apartment because the others are going around and looting the units that no longer have people living in them. The casualness with which the news is dropped is so shocking that she just shuts the door in their face and starts to darkly laugh at the absurdity of the world she now lives in. It's like she's fallen through a twisted version of the looking glass. These people that she knows are now talking about stealing the possessions of dead people like they're talking about the weather.

She can't stay here. In the back of her mind she's always kind of known that. The food and money she had allocated for a grocery budget is going to run out eventually and it's not like she has access to her parent's bank accounts. How would she pay the rent? While she's nearly 17 years old, she's still technically a minor. She's going to be taken in by CPS or something eventually, but who knows if they'll ever manage to work through the backlog of half the universe going up in smoke. Is the government even still functioning?

Michelle grabs her bag and dumps its contents out on the floor. A lot of it seems completely useless to her now. Tossing out all of her school supplies, she refills it with things that she would take on a trip. A couple highly compacted changes of clothes, all the money she has left, her laptop, etc. It's practically bulging at the seams. As she prepares to leave, her eyes take note of a glint from the table next to her bed. It's the pendant she got for Christmas resting on top of the list of names she wrote. Only a single name remains uncrossed: Peter Parker.

Grabbing the list, she shoves it into her bag and carefully puts on the pendant. Michelle takes one more look around her apartment and heads out to the only place that might be able to take her in: The New York Sanctum.

* * *

The roof still isn't fixed and the sun shines brightly through the large hole. Carefully moving around the damaged staircase, Michelle heads upstairs to the back to see if there is anyone here.

"Hello?" she calls out as she heads toward the back rooms. The display room with various artifacts is a lot emptier than she last saw it. Judging by the piles of dust and ash on the ground, Michelle assumes they must have been "killed" as well. Relics are sentient on some level after all so maybe they counted as being alive. It almost seems like some kind of cosmic joke that so many people are gone, but she got to keep her magic boots.

"Michelle?" comes a voice. It's Wong. "What are you doing here?" he asks.

_I'm running away again. I'm running away from the world._

"I don't," Michelle tries to say before the words die on her lips. "I don't have anywhere else to go." Without even being prompted, the story spills out of her like a waterfall. Her parents are dead. Her friends are dead. The world outside is effectively in a state of chaos and she doesn't know what to do.

With eyes so full of understanding, Wong takes a slow step next to her and pats her gently on the back. "Come. Let's get you to a bed," he says.

The two of them step foot in Kamar-Taj a few minutes later. While it is night here due to the time difference, it seems more ominous than in her memories. Entire sections of the complex seem unused. Wong takes her to the old dorm room she once stayed in when she was first here so long ago. Everything is exactly as she left it, but it's different now. Where she was once unsure how she fit in here because of how normal her life was, she now feels just as lost and broken as the rest.

Glancing down the hallway, Michelle notices the extensive number of rooms left unlit. She had forgotten that half of the sorcerer order was probably lost as well. When she first came here, she had estimated that there were maybe twenty members. That would leave roughly ten left. Staring into the darkness, she asks Wong "How many are left?"

"Including you? There are nine of us remaining. Leadership is being handled by myself, but beyond that the rest are three apprentices and five novices."

Only a single master remains unless Strange is still alive in space which Michelle holds no illusions of possibly being the case. He would never willingly give up the Time Stone and Wong assuredly knows it too. Novices are the rank she was when she first started and are signified with white robes. They are the people who are still learning how to channel magic and are unable to cast a spell. That means only four people here can even use magic anymore of widely varying skill levels.

"So if you're guarding the New York Sanctum, who are in the other two?" Michelle asks. If there is only one person higher ranking than her...

"Two apprentices less skilled than you," Wong bluntly answers. "Get some sleep. We will talk again tomorrow." He turns to leave and the fading sounds of his footsteps are all that remains.

Stepping into her room, Michelle closes the door and sits down on her bed to think. If Wong is correct about the people handling the other Sanctums, then that effectively makes her the second most powerful sorcerer still on Earth. She certainly doesn't feel like it.

"What do I do now?" she questions the empty room around her, wishing the darkness could give her the answer.

* * *

Wong comes by to lead a group session for the novices. Dressed in her normal clothes rather than her crimson robes designating her rank, Michelle declines to join and goes over to the side where she sits down on the ground and leans her back against the wall, opting to just watch. He guides them through practices on how to make a portal and it brings back almost fond memories. Things were simpler back then. One of the novices succeeds and they all take a moment to congratulate him. Despite their heavy losses, the camaraderie is strong. Life is ever so slowly beginning to continue on and it's leaving her behind.

After they finish, Wong comes over and sits down on the ground next to her. "Why did you bring me here?" Michelle asks.

"Hmm?" Wong hums back.

She lays her guilt out on the table, "I just- I don't feel like I deserve this. I ran away from the fight. Why are you helping me?"

"It is my understanding that you did exactly as Stephen wanted you to," he counters evenly. "He is the one who sent you away."

That's true. "Maybe," Michelle says, looking aside. "I let myself down though. I let the world down. How can I look my friend's parents in the eye and tell them that I might have been able to help stop it, but didn't try?"

Wong doesn't answer for a long time. "I also failed quite pitifully," he eventually says. Michelle is slightly surprised to hear it. He's never mentioned his side of what happened. "The one Stephen and I faced had advanced telekinetic ability. All he did was break a fire hydrant and the burst of water caused me to fall and hit my head. You are not alone in feeling this way. All we can do is try and pick ourselves back up and do the best we can."

She looks at Wong. He's usually so serious and stoic. The fact that he has been able to carry on despite that guilt is something else. Michelle wishes she could be that strong. "How do you do it?" she asks quietly.

"You do it for those who are left. You do it because the attacks on our reality will not stop if you quit. You do it because the world will not defend itself," he explains.

The two of them sit in silence together for a while longer before Wong gets up. He leaves with a warning, "I must return to the Sanctum. Do not let this grief swallow you whole, Michelle. There will be nothing left of you but a husk."

Intellectually, he's right. She just doesn't know how to move on like that or if she even has a right to.

The rest of the day and much of the night is spent with Michelle remaining in the same spot, lying on the ground and looking up at the stars while dreaming of what could have been. Flashing through her mind are images of herself holding up another Academic Decathlon trophy with her friends for a competition they had coming up or quiet nights in the Parker home with everyone lounging around while she reads and listens to their idle chatter. She imagines what might have come of her relationship with Peter.

Michelle used to read a lot of fairy tales as a little girl. A dragon was slain, a princess was saved, and everyone lived happily ever after. All her life, she's wanted her own happy ending and she thought she had finally started getting there.

But that life just isn't in the cards for her anymore. It's been washed away with the tide.

Feeling her eyes start to water again, Michelle thinks she's about to start spiraling in her own anguish when suddenly her phone starts ringing.

She's so wrapped up in her misery that she doesn't register it at first. It's an alien sound. The concept of someone calling her is so foreign because who the hell is even left that it could be? A glance at the number reveals one that she isn't familiar with. Mildly curious and with nothing better to do, Michelle answers. "Hello?" she asks while trying to stifle her tears.

"Is this Michelle Jones? It's Bruce Banner. Are you there?"

What the hell? How did he even get her number? "Yeah," she weakly answers. "That's me. Where did you get this number from?"

"I'm going through Tony's files and doing a roll call. He had you marked down as a 'Person of Interest'."

Person of Interest. Hah. She feels nothing like the powerful sorceress she once pretended she could be when she was first starting out. Frankly, she feels like a scared child in a thunderstorm. Like she's trying to curl up under the blankets as if it could shut out the world. "Well, I'm still alive. Whatever that's worth. So is Wong."

Banner sounds utterly defeated, "You're actually the only one I've been able to reach."

Hesitantly, Michelle asks the question that's been burning on her mind, "Can you tell me what happened in Wakanda?" She needs to know if she could have made a difference there. Is this all her fault for not trying?

A sigh comes from the other end of the line. Maybe she shouldn't be pressing it because he probably doesn't want to talk about it. "We never stood a chance. Thanos walked all over us except for Thor."

She blinks, "I thought you said he was dead."

Banners slight shrug is practically visible, "I'm not sure on the story. He hasn't been in much of a talking mood."

On one hand, she feels a little better that she probably wouldn't have been able to help much. On the other, celebrating the fact that it's not directly her fault half of the universe is dead seems completely beside the point. "What are you going to do now?"

"We don't really know yet. The obvious answer is that if we could get the Infinity Stones ourselves, we might be able to bring everyone back, but..." the man trails off.

"You'd have to beat Thanos first and he has the power to kill a trillion lives in the blink of an eye," she finishes for him.

"Exactly."

They're both silent for a time until Banner speaks up, "Listen, do you mind if I keep your number handy? We might need your help at some point and I'd like to talk to you more about this thing you do."

There's a part of her that wishes she could be back in school, even if it was empty. Back there she could be her usual confident self. She could wear her mask that made her feel like she could be in control of everything and lead her teammates to victory. That mask is nowhere to be found right now.

"Why me?" she asks with a quiet voice. "We both know I didn't go with you because I chickened out. I didn't do anything. I'm just- I'm nobody."

Banner sighs again after a time, unsure entirely of what to say, "I'm not really the right person for a pep talk - frankly, none of us are right now - but it's largely because of you that we even had a chance at all. If we took the Quinjet to Wakanda, we wouldn't have made it there before they attacked. We'd just be a wreck in the ocean. And that thing Tony was fighting? You're the only one who actually did anything to it. Even the Hulkbuster armor couldn't beat it in a straight fight." He pauses for a moment, "You have some unique abilities that we could use right now."

She hadn't conjured any weapons or cast any powerful spells that day. All Michelle did was create a Mirror Dimension gateway and a few portals, but that's enough for Bruce Banner to say that she almost saved the world. It's a weird feeling for people to have faith in you even when you don't have faith in yourself. It's even weirder if one of them can turn into a giant green monster that can level a city.

"Sure," she eventually says. "Just not right now. I need time."

"I understand."

He's about to disconnect when she has a thought, "Wait, have you gotten any kind of signal from those that went into space?"

"Ah, no." Mercifully, the man doesn't say anything else.

"Can you let me know if you hear anything about it?"

"I can do that," Banner answers.

The two of them hang up and Michelle sighs, trying to figure out her next step. God, what is she even planning on doing here? Freeloading until they kick her out? It's obvious how understaffed they are. Now that Wong has left, there's literally no one here to help teach the others for the rest of the day. It's only a matter of time before he brings it up with her. Is she just going to say no?

From a pocket, Michelle pulls out her list and looks at the one name left uncrossed.

_Are you still out there, Peter? What would you do in my position?_

Actually, that's a dumb question. She knows exactly what he'd do. He'd jump right on in like an idiot and help out without even knowing what he was agreeing to. After they had first started dating, there were some tense moments where the two of them had argued about how much he was going out as Spider-Man. It was affecting his grades, his attendance at the Decathlon meetings, and she felt like she was just getting blown off. Ned had privately agreed with her, but didn't want to be the one to call Peter out on it. It took a while, but with May's help, they were able to get him down to more realistic patrol hours. The part of it that strikes her now isn't that, but rather the counter argument that he would use. It was a motto of some kind that he picked up from his uncle.

"With great power comes great responsibility," Michelle tests the words out. She was never a big fan of the phrase because it always prompted Peter to take on far more of a burden than she wanted him to carry, but that's just the kind of person he was. Now, after everything that has happened, she thinks she understands it better. She's not sure if her power counts as "great", but she did not act when she may have had the capability to help and now everyone she's ever cared about has turned to dust. Maybe she can make it up to all the people she let down this way. If she works hard at it and helps protect their reality, maybe someday she'll feel like she deserves forgiveness.

_Is this how you felt when your uncle died? I think I get it now. I think I finally understand why you always tried so hard to save everyone._

* * *

The next morning, Michelle steps into the training area alone and begins her full routine. Given the events of the past week, it has been some time since since she's had any real practice and the discipline of it helps calm her down. Weapons and martial arts training is like a dance and with the full space of the area available to her, she finds herself stretching all across the room in a tangled web of magic. Mid way through, she begins to mix in portals and dimensional travel while fighting her imaginary foe. Fully absorbed in her flow, she completely loses track of time and pays no attention to the world outside of her space. Sweep low. Block high. Step backwards into portal. Dodge left. Counter. Jump right. Jump in the air. Jump a third time. Attack from above.

Landing on the ground, Michelle breaks from her drill to take a quick drink of water and sees that a full hour has gone by. When she turns around to pick back up where she left off, she notices she's no longer alone. At the entrance to the area are the five novices, some of them looking at her in awe. With them is Wong.

"Michelle," he nods in approval, "Welcome back to Kamar-Taj." The meaning is not lost on her.

She stands at attention, feeling a little nervous and bogged down in grief, but still taller than she has in days, "I'm not sure if I'm ready yet, but I want to try. What do you need me to do?"


	6. This Path I've Taken Pt 2

**Official warning that Endgame spoilers are starting in this chapter.**

* * *

Walking through a forest, deep in rural China, is not how Michelle Jones expected to be spending her day. Wong didn't give her a whole lot of detail about why she's here other than to say that there was some kind of "disturbance in the fabric of reality" in the area. She couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at how dramatic it sounded, but the man seemed confident that she could handle the problem. It doesn't take her long before she finds it. After climbing through thick brush, Michelle comes to a ledge. Down about twenty meters below her is a small, pristine lake and hovering above it is a literal crack in the air as if someone had punched a window. A dimensional rift.

The land and trees around the rift are horribly warped and twisted from its influence. She's seen this kind of thing once before and admittedly was hoping to never see it again because of how screwed up it was. Back when she was first starting out, she had troubles comprehending the idea of other dimensions to which Strange "helped" her by literally sending her around the multiverse. One of the dimensions he showed her was an unnamed one that morphs everything inside of it in fractals. In the 10 seconds she was in there, she saw her hands growing other hands in infinitely repeating patterns. Really fucked up stuff.

Michelle shudders for a moment. That was... not a great place. Unfortunately, that seems to be where this dimensional rift leads to and it's trying to distort reality around it. Trees are growing smaller trees off of them in such a way that they look like really bizarre branches. The wildlife near the edge of the lake that she can see is- The girl looks away. That's a memory she would rather wipe from her mind.

After taking a moment to assess the area and make sure there's no imminent danger, she climbs down to get a better look. It hasn't grown very large yet and seems to be expanding very slowly. In time, it will start affecting nearby areas and entire cities would essentially twist in on themselves.

"Okay, Michelle," she speaks to herself while rubbing her hands together. Her crimson robes designating her as an apprentice of the Mystic Arts flutter in the wind. "Time to put your training to use."

Finding a clear spot to work without getting too close, Michelle begins to poke and prod at the rift. It appears to be mostly stable for the moment so there's no immediate risk and if she can't figure it out, it'll likely be weeks before this gets out of control. Wong could step in-

No. She can't just pass this up the chain. This is her responsibility now. Wong had faith that she can do this and she doesn't want to let him down. Nothing is trying to kill her out here so she has time to figure this out.

In theory, closing this kind of rift is a lot like forcing another sorcerer's portal to close. It's similar to mending a tear in clothing, but instead of a needle and thread you use magic. Starting her first attempt, Michelle gets about halfway through before it destabilizes and the spell fizzles in the air. Sighing, the girl settles in for the long haul. This might take a while.

And it does. A full four hours later, she finally pulls it off. The crack begins to seal itself back together with a rumbling noise and winks out of existence as if it was never there. Backing up to a safer spot, Michelle watches as the world around the lake slowly returns to normal now that the rift's influence is gone Thirty minutes later, the damage is fully reverted and she heads back to Kamar-Taj feeling content and accomplished.

* * *

Officially, her new job is to act as the Kamar-Taj librarian, but it has only been 48 hours since starting and she doesn't really know what she's doing yet. The responsibilities include the kind of stuff you would normally expect for that role such as tracking loaned out books and such, but she's also required to defend the place with her life. The novices come and study with her in the library, but she doesn't talk to them very much. It's not that Michelle hates them or anything. She's just not in the mood for a lot of human interaction these days. It's easier for her to forget the world when she's by herself.

It's the nightmares, Michelle thinks, that really get to her. In a morbid sense, being so far away from home has helped to not think about the deaths of her family and friends, but that doesn't stop them from begging her to save them in her dreams. When the sun goes down, she can feel it coming like something clawing at the back of her mind. Unable to get proper rest, she ends up spending all day and night studying and training. The work is all that keeps the guilt of her self-perceived failure away.

She's about to get started learning how to conjure types of weapons other than a whip when Wong comes by. "Come with me," he says. "I have realized that we've never trained together and I would like to see first hand more of where you are in your studies. No spells for now. Just whatever weapons you can make and shields."

Michelle shakes herself out of her thoughts about the world back home and follows him out to the training area. She could use another distraction and she's never actually seen Wong in action before.

It shouldn't be a surprise, but it blows her away that Wong can throw down. Apparently he's more used to taking on a supporting role and it's immediately obvious as to why because he can make the strongest shields she's ever seen and he's phenomenal at adjusting the size of them on the fly. His base fundamentals are amazing. This skill of his leads him to take a rather defensive and opportunistic fighting style.

Keeping at the edge of her whip's range, Michelle tests out lashing at Wong, but the shields are too strong and too large for her to get through. Hell, Wong doesn't even need to move the shield to block. It's literally the size of his body. On one of her attacks, the man lunges forward and is able to catch her right arm mid-swing and pulls it towards him. The move throws her off balance and Wong takes the opportunity to counter with his own attack. Using the momentum from her stumble, Michelle allows herself to fall to the floor to dodge and swipes her arm out at Wong's legs to snag him with the whip and make him fall over as well with a tug. The two of them race to stand back up, but it's essentially right back to where they started from. A stalemate.

There's no immediately apparent way to break through the shields, so Michelle tries to get around them. Taking inspiration from the time that Mordo attacked her, she runs at Wong and uses the abilities of the Vaulting Boots of Valtorr to leap around him with great speed, hoping to catch him in an unguarded spot. Accidentally executing the move a little close to her opponent, Wong counters this by simply reaching out, grabbing her leg while she's in the air, and throwing her on the ground. Dropping his shields, he conjures his own whip and ties Michelle up in it as she gets up.

She lost.

Except, why are her instincts screaming at her to try and break the binding? She's never been able to do anything like that before.

_But that was against Strange,_ a voice tells her from the back of her mind_. You can do this. Don't give up. Don't run away._

Wong is talking, likely some form of lecture about things she did wrong, but Michelle ignores it and starts to struggle. Ever so slowly, she can feel herself stretching the bindings away. Squirming her arms around, she slowly pulls her right hand free millimeter by millimeter. With a final pull, she manages to get her hand out and the bindings fall apart around her like a loose belt. Taking it, she grabs her end of the magical whip that was binding her and yanks it to the side which interrupts a surprised Wong and tosses him to the floor. Conjuring her own whip, she quickly strikes and wraps it around him before he can stand, effectively doing the exact same thing to him that he did to her just moments ago.

_Holy shit, I just overpowered the strongest sorcerer still alive. What does this mean?_

After releasing him, Wong gets back up and brushes himself off. "Interesting," he comments with a long look at her, "Stephen used to speak about you, but I wasn't sure if I entirely believed his assessment until now. You clearly have some talent. Need to work on your technique however."

Still stunned by her own success, Michelle remains silent.

Nodding to himself, he finishes, "Yes, I believe there are some things I can teach you."

* * *

Some days are worse than others when her thoughts drift off to the world back home and Michelle thinks she may never fully get over it. News reports indicate that rioting isn't as much of a concern anymore now that people have moved on past the anger phase of grief, but civilization is an utter mess. Governments are in shambles, logistics systems are virtually non-existent due to highways still being blocked by wrecks, and overall crime rates are through the roof. Probably the least shocking thing she learns is that schools are closed until further notice.

It's... hard. Perhaps she was just being selfish, but she never really thought much about the novices having troubles of their own. It's not uncommon to see someone suddenly break down after checking some news and Michelle doesn't know how to help. How can she help others when she's having the same issue too? Before things settle, the whole world will have shed enough tears to fill an ocean. Michelle includes herself in that.

Despite her dwindling hope that Peter is alright, she never crosses off his name. It's perhaps irrational and illogical at this point, but marking him off feels like it would be giving up. It's something to hold on to when she gets into one of her darker moods or after waking up from another nightmare. There isn't a whole lot left to be optimistic for.

After a particularly bad day where she couldn't get Cindy's younger brother out of her mind, Michelle decides to grab her sketchbook and try drawing something. Taking a seat in the library, she begins to draw one of the trainees on the other side of the room. It's a woman, about 30 years old. Michelle's hands fly across the paper, catching as many details of the woman that she can like the hunch of her shoulders, the unkempt and messy hair, and the look in her eyes that shows she's clearly not reading the current page of her book.

Finishing the shading, Michelle studies her progress in the drawing. It's actually one of the better things she's done, but it's the face etched in misery that she focuses on. Suddenly feeling like she's lost her appetite, she rips out the page in a burst of anger and crumples it up, not wanting to see it again. Drawing people in crisis isn't funny anymore and that's all anyone looks like these days.

* * *

The thing is, Wong drops by as much as he can, but he kind of has other obligations. When he's back at the Sanctum, Michelle is the highest ranking person in the complex and that leads the novices to look at her like she has all the answers. It's weird and a little uncomfortable considering some of them are over two to three times her age. Thankfully, the kinds of things they ask her about are usually for help on learning something. Apparently she does a good enough job of tutoring that Wong ends up asking her to start leading some group training sessions.

Standing there in the training area, in front of the novices, might be the hardest thing Michelle has ever done. It brings back the same feeling as when she would start up practices at school. In their faces, she sees her friends that she'll probably never see again. A monumental effort is required, but Michelle manages to swallow back her regrets and get the session going. If anyone notices that they simply stood around for five minutes before starting or that Michelle had run off to retreat to her dorm room after finishing, no one said a word.

Back at the desk in her room, Michelle pulls out some notebooks she brought with her and begins to write. She writes about anything and everything. With her hobby of drawing people just highlighting bad memories, she turns to making her own stories. The endless number of books she's read in her life have taught her much about what makes for a good narrative. It helps. The couple notebooks she brought with her are burned through at a rapid pace and she quickly runs out. Michelle heads back to her apartment to get more and bring some of her things she had previously left behind only to find that her home was ransacked. There's virtually nothing left.

She wishes she could say she was surprised.

* * *

Wong starts bringing Michelle along to some field work.

She sharply looks over to the man with a stupefied look, "That's a gargoyle. Like, a real gargoyle. Are all mythical things real?"

He shrugs, "Not all, but many legends are based on at least a little bit of fact." Geez, that's kind of crazy to think about. Then again, the first time she met Strange, he mentioned a fight against a literal dragon. This is pretty normal compared to that.

The two of them are on a rooftop in London, observing a nearby cathedral where the creature seems to have taken up residence. News is still a bit disorganized, but there's scattered reports of someone being attacked in the area by a "large animal" which Wong seems to believe is this gargoyle. It wouldn't surprise Michelle. From what she can tell at this distance, it cuts a rather intimidating figure. The thing is probably a couple heads taller than herself.

"Go on now. I'll assist if I need to," he says as he waves her off.

Michelle narrows her eyes at the man. "Is this your idea of mentoring me or are you just being lazy?" He doesn't respond aside from quirking an eyebrow so she raises her middle finger to flip him off as she walks through a portal.

After dealing with that particular issue, Wong strikes up conversation with Michelle while taking a break on a nearby rooftop in the cool, night air before heading back, "Would you believe it if I told you I actually have very little idea what I'm doing?"

The comment is so out of nowhere that Michelle almost trips on her own feet, "Don't worry, I'll keep your dark secrets," she bemusedly replies with a small grin.

"The Ancient One handled many responsibilities for so long that no one else truly knew how to fill her position."

The name baffles Michelle and her face comically twists in confusion, "What the hell kind of name is that? Sounds pretentious."

The man lets out a small nostalgic chuckle and with a wave of his hand he projects an illusion much like when he was giving Stark and Banner a lesson on the Infinity Stones. In the projection is a bald woman, maybe 50-ish years old. "We never knew her real name, but she was the Sorcerer Supreme until she died a couple years ago. An example of what I'm referring to would be for promotions. Virtually all changes in rank were hand picked by her. I know of no consistent logic that was used for it."

Michelle looks over to Wong, "You guys seemed pretty clear-cut when you moved me to Apprentice," she comments.

"Yes," he nods and elaborates, "That was a much easier line for us to make, but promotions to Master were always very vague. The Ancient One would sometimes choose new and relatively inexperienced people. Stephen was one of them. Did you know that he was named a Master before he was even fully aware of the dangers in the multiverse?"

That's... odd. How could he have somehow not known? "Why wasn't he? He was always pretty upfront with me about it."

Wong frowns slightly, "I don't believe I could give you an entirely accurate answer, but I later learned that The Ancient One frequently consulted the Time Stone to better prepare for future dangers. Stephen originally came to Kamar-Taj to heal his hands and nothing more. I assume she knew that telling him would scare him off so she let the information drip slowly. The Time Stone is possibly also how she knew who to name as Master."

That sounds suspiciously like how Strange admitted he had used the Time Stone to know how to convince her to continue training in the Mystic Arts. Michelle never really decided how to feel about that. The whole thing sounds manipulative, but she made all her own choices, right? "So now you're just flying blind?"

"Essentially. I have been considering offering you the title of Master for the past few days."

Michelle chokes on air and coughs for a good fifteen seconds. Wong actually turns and smirks at her, the bastard. "So, what, are you asking for my opinion?" she eventually gets out.

"No," Wong firmly denies. "I've already made up my mind because I believe I now see what Stephen saw in you. Would you like to be a Master of the Mystic Arts?"

Michelle is silent for a time and looks around the city of London. So many buildings are left unlit. People seem to be converging together near the central areas of the city and leaving the outer edges completely abandoned which serves as a perfect reminder of why she's staying in Kamar-Taj. She closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths.

"Would my responsibilities change?" she asks for clarification.

"Not particularly. What will change are your own expectations out of yourself. While neither of us will ever be as gifted as Stephen was, I believe you will surpass me in time. Our reality needs protecting and I would like your help."

She understands what he means. Even now, she has always had the choice to just walk away. There's no particular obligation to be here and it's not like Wong is blackmailing her into staying. Michelle stays because she now knows that this is the right thing to do. The burden he wants to place on her shoulders isn't one she knows how to carry, but wasn't this the whole point to it all?

"Yeah, I can do that." She has to.

* * *

And so roughly three weeks pass since Thanos arrived.

Life as a sorceress is a cycle of learning, protecting, and teaching. Emphasis on the learning. The quietest place Michelle has found to study and write when she wants some privacy is nearby the section of the library typically reserved for the Sorcerer Supreme. Behind those shelves is the room containing a spherical model of Earth and the three doorways that lead to the Sanctums. Michelle isn't too familiar exactly with how the model globe (confusingly named the Orb of Agamotto) works, but it is supposed to be showing the status of the shield protecting the world. Somehow, it also notifies of other threats.

Two days after her discussion with Wong about being promoted to Master, the Orb makes a noise.

"What the hell was that?" Michelle mutters to herself as she looks around. After a few moments, she notices a change in the Orb. Something powerful caused a literal ripple in the shield generated by the New York Sanctum. A red dot of sorts shows the source coming from upstate, right where the Avengers compound is.

She almost runs off to grab Wong before she realizes, _oh wait, she's the person now that people would grab_. Unsure how exactly she's supposed to handle this, Michelle puts on her sling ring and opens a portal to the home of the Avengers.

It feels like there's an earthquake. The ground is rumbling. Walls are shaking. Things are falling off of shelves. Stumbling for a moment as she steps through, she can see Banner and a few others racing outside, likely to see what's going on.

"Dr. Banner! What the hell is happening?" Michelle shouts out to him. The man nearly trips and turns around, not slightly surprised at her appearance.

"We're picking up something entering the atmosphere," he replies as he keeps running.

It's night outside and everyone starts to slow down in the grass which gives her the opportunity to look around and see who all is here. It takes her a moment to recognize some of them. Steve, Colonel Rhodes, Pepper Potts, and that might be the Natasha further away. None of them pay her any attention and possibly just haven't noticed her.

Up in the sky is a huge spaceship, slowly being lifted to the ground by a glowing woman.

Seconds drag on like hours as everyone merely watches as the woman slowly places the ship down, then looks around as the orange glow recedes, revealing blonde hair and a blue/red outfit. The ramp of the ship begins to lower with the sound of depressurization.

Slowly and unsure of his footing, Tony Stark steps foot on to Earth.

Michelle's heart is in a vice grip. There's no one else. No one else is coming down. _No one else is coming down._

Pepper runs over to Tony, but Tony's not looking at her. He's looking around for someone else and stops when he spots his target. "Bruce!" he weakly shouts with an apparent frail condition. "Come here!"

Banner jogs closer and as he does, a woman with blue skin comes down the ramp. She's carrying an unconscious Peter Parker.

"Oh my god," Michelle gasps to herself and is at their side in an instant. She shakes him, but there's no response. His skin is freezing to the touch, but there's a pulse. "What's wrong with him?" she demands of Tony.

Tony looks between her and Bruce, "I think the kid's gone into some kind of hibernation due to lack of food. Get him inside and warm."

Immediately after his explanation, he faints and collapses against a panicking Pepper.

* * *

He's thin. Too thin. Frankly, he looks like he'd fall over in a stiff breeze.

"You know dork, if you were going to take on enough weird spider traits that hibernation was a real concern, I would have liked to have known about that ahead of time," Michelle talks to a sleeping Peter.

He's wrapped up in several layers of blankets with an IV hooked up. Tony is rigged up similarly in another room, but at least he's awake. They came back from space last night. Michelle didn't give much of an explanation to Wong as to where she is other than to say she's busy so hopefully he'll forgive her.

Through the window of the room Peter and she are in, Michelle can see Tony wheeling himself out to a common room to talk with the other Avengers. He doesn't look particularly happy.

It probably says a lot about how strange her life is now that she takes the presence of aliens in the other room in stride. The flying woman is actually pretty nice and Michelle chats with her briefly. Her name is Carol Danvers which Michelle makes sure to take note of that because anyone powerful enough to actually ripple a dimensional barrier is important. The blue woman is Nebula, though she hasn't spoken a word with her. Apparently she's part cyborg or something. There's also a talking raccoon, which is, well, it's something. Michelle has a really hard time taking him seriously. He's even dressed up in clothes! Like, what the hell?

The group outside seems to quickly devolve into an argument after Tony starts shouting. He also starts pointing into the room that she's in with Peter, but it's soundproof so she can't make out the words. Tony is pissed though.

"Could really use some of your bottomless optimism right now," she tells Peter as she looks away from the window. She checks his temperature. He's warming up slowly. Maybe tomorrow he might wake up.

"They say it helps to talk to people when they're in a coma. You're not really in a coma, but close enough. I wish I had some good stories. I got into a fight with a huge gargoyle on top of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. It punched through a few walls. Hopefully no one notices."

Michelle reaches under the covers and entwines one of his hands with hers.

"I hope Ned had a nice date with Betty."

* * *

Some time later, everyone files out to do... something. She doesn't actually know where they're going. The ship that came in apparently belonged to the raccoon (there's a lot to unpack there) so he started working on repairs almost immediately after the landing. He must have finished already because everyone just got in it and left.

After Michelle sees Pepper leaving Tony's side, Michelle steps into his room to chat with the man.

"Hey Sabrina," he greets, clearly trying to force a more positive mood than before.

She tilts her head slightly in confusion, not catching the reference. "I just wanted to thank you for bringing him home," Michelle tells him.

Tony brings a hand up to scratch the side of his head for a time, "He's a good kid. Better than I ever was. I think I have you to thank though."

"What did I do?"

His movement is a little restricted from the bed, but he shuffles slightly in place, unsure how to phrase his words, "Pete had some bracelet or something. Said he got it from you. I saw him turning to dust, but then the thing turned on and stopped it."

Michelle doesn't get it. "Uh, what are you talking about?"

"Are we talking about the same thing here? He said you gave it to him for Christmas."

"Yes," she confirms slowly, still uncomprehending.

"Did you do anything weird to it?"

Shrugging, "I tried to. It was a dud though and broke. Didn't you see how messed up it was?"

"Whatever you did saved his life. Some kind of magic thing came out of it and stopped him from turning to dust, then it turned to dust instead."

But it broke. What the hell? The spell she was trying to place on it wasn't even all that powerful. How could it have stopped the power of 6 Infinity Stones? It was supposed to maybe deflect a single bullet away from him.

A memory of the artifact display room in the Sanctum flashes to the front of her mind. Relics of all kinds had turned to dust because they were sentient. The bracelet didn't somehow have the power to stop a universe altering power, _it took his place_. It jumped in front of the bullet and turned to dust instead of Peter.

So many times Michelle had offered to replace the damn thing with one that wasn't damaged. Each time, Peter had refused for no reason other than sentimentality. Dumb luck saved his life. Her mind reeling, Michelle takes a seat to recollect herself.

"Pepper's been locking me away from the news," Tony's voice cuts in. "How bad is it out there?"

Still a little lost in her thoughts, Michelle knows she probably shouldn't give him the complete truth. He looks absurdly frail, just like Peter. Still, he deserves to at least know some bad news.

"May's dead," she tells him. Peter won't take it well and she'll need to learn to be strong for him.

He takes a minute to absorb the information. "Shit," he whispers to himself then looks directly at Michelle, promise in his eyes. "I'll take him in. Do you need a place to stay?"

She shakes her head, "I'm staying with Wong in Nepal. I haven't had any reason to stay here."

"Nepal. That's a hell of a commute."

"It helps to have a really fancy ride made of orange sparkles," she dryly reminds him. "Where did everyone go anyway?"

He shuffles again uncomfortably, "New girl claims she's strong enough to fight Thanos. They all left to try again for round two."

Michelle blinks, "But, he has the stones." That sounds like a suicide run of the highest order. This must be why Tony was pointing at Peter and her earlier. He was trying to keep them out of it. Part of her is annoyed by this. If she's honest with herself, she would have been tempted to go too if Peter was dead. Maybe Tony knew that.

Tony doesn't comment, instead just staring at the ceiling with a scowl on his face.

* * *

"Wong promoted me to Master. I don't think you've ever met him. I'm supposed to make my own robes now and can make them look however I want, but I haven't had time. What color should I use?" Michelle asks Peter.

Of course there's still no response. She lets out a sigh.

"I was thinking blue, but I wonder if people will think I'm copying Dr. Strange. Maybe that's why I want to do it. I don't know."

Not once did she ever ask about her former teacher, but she doesn't need the confirmation. There seemed to be an informal understanding between herself and Tony to try and not talk too much about the dead.

"Do you think we'll still have to take finals for the current school year? I think I saw they might be trying to reopen in the Fall."

"MJ?" comes a quiet voice. Sharply, Michelle looks up to see Peter finally awake, but still looking weak. "Space is really boring."

Michelle takes in the moment for as long as she can before she starts to laugh. It's probably the first time she's really felt okay in weeks. "You idiot. You stupid idiot."

A few hours later, the Avengers return from space, sorrow written all over their faces. Their mission was accomplished. Thanos is dead. The Infinity Stones, however, are destroyed and forever lost to the universe.

The half of the universe that died is never coming back.


	7. A Matter of Time

Time passes.

True to his word, Tony takes in Peter and has himself marked as his legal guardian. He offers to do the same for Michelle, but she only agrees after a long time of thinking. To her, it feels like it would just cause a lot of hassle if she was associated with Tony Stark and she doesn't really care about the man. She's technically a minor though so it would help with legalities.

"I know we don't know each other all that well, but it's either me or someone who doesn't understand why you keep flying away on a broomstick at night. Just think of it as a purely legal thing to keep CPS away," Tony had argued. Despite her eye twitching at his comment, it's a fair statement for him to make.

Peter takes the losses hard in more ways than one. He practically shuts down for days without speaking. About two weeks after his return, Peter finally tries to catch up on what's going on which just sets his progress back to nothing. Feeling guilty about not helping his devastated city, Peter starts sneaking out as Spider-Man against literally everyone's recommendations. At first he took the crazy metal suit out, but quickly retired it for the older ones when he found that things needed a less... intimidating approach.

Michelle returns to her new home one night to find Peter on the couch in his Spider-Man suit. The mask is off, but his eyes are red. He's been crying.

Gently setting down her things to not startle him too much, she heads over and sits down next to him and runs one of her hands through his hair. She's learned that it helps him calm down from a bad day. This isn't the first time and it won't be the last.

"Do you remember that woman I told you about yesterday? Wendy?" Peter quietly asks after a while. Michelle remembers. He had spent a while on a rooftop last night, talking a woman out of wanting to jump to her death. "I found her again tonight in the same place. Same thing. I thought I talked her out of it again because she went back inside. Ten minutes later I went back to check. She jumped."

The top growing services in the world all center around death. Orphanages, grief counseling, and suicide prevention are some of the most notable. These things shape the new society.

Michelle pulls him in a little tighter, wishing she should shield him from the universe.

"I just," he slowly gets out between hiccups, "I just don't know what to do. I don't know how to help people like this. I see one almost every day and I try, I swear I try, but I don't know if I even believe my own speeches anymore."

"It's going to be okay," she tries whispering to him. Michelle hopes she's not lying.

"I didn't get it for a long time, you know?" he tries to explain to her after he calms down a little. "We were on the spaceship and I didn't even know why we were there. Then we get to this other planet where everyone starts making a plan to fight Thanos and I didn't even know who Thanos was or why he mattered."

If she could fix one small thing she's ever done, Michelle would want to keep herself from sending that text warning Peter and Ned about the invasion.

"Even now, I still don't get it. I wasn't gone that long, but I come back and it's all different. It's like I went to bed one night and woke up in the Twilight Zone. I keep wondering if we made it back to the wrong planet. Maybe this place just looks a lot like my Earth. Maybe if I find the hidden camera or catch the right person in a lie, I'll find out that this is just a huge prank. May will come out from behind the curtain and it'll be okay again."

All Michelle can do is keep him as comfortable as she can and let him get it all out.

"Thanos said he wanted to remove half of all life for population control. I didn't get it. I still don't." Peter pauses and whispers his last thought, "It's not supposed to be that easy to kill people."

School reopens in the Fall. Seeing as everything exploded mid Spring semester, the school system just gives everyone an automatic pass to move on to the next year. It's easier to do that than trying to go back and give finals for classes that students haven't been studying for in months. As such, Peter and Michelle return to Midtown as seniors.

Michelle had a long talk with Wong about it. No matter what, she doesn't want to be a high school dropout. Wong took several long breaths in thought and agreed. She knows he's just trying to be kind, but each time she returns to Kamar-Taj, she sees him getting more and more stressed about having to effectively run the show himself. This combined with several new recruits somehow finding their way there make the man look like he's drowning. Michelle tries to help out as much as she can with whatever jobs need handling, but it's just patching holes in a leaking dam. There isn't enough time to help him the way she needs to while going to school.

Deep down, she knows the truth. She'll never be able to go to college.

* * *

Time passes.

"I swear," Michelle's eyes flash dangerously, "if you so much as step out of this room, I will chain you down in here."

"MJ, you know I have to go! Think about all the damage he's going to do! I can't let him do this again," Peter argues as he tries to edge past her without hurting her.

"Yeah," she growls out, "and the last time you fought him, you almost died. You're delusional if you think you're going out there."

People vanishing caused problems in many unexpected areas. One example would be prisons. The sudden lack of guards allowed some inmates to escape if they were in the right place at the right time. Matthew Dillon, aka Electro, was one of these people.

"If not me, then who? The Avengers basically don't exist anymore and the few still there are busy. Tony's in the hospital with Pepper!" Peter tries to make her understand.

He's right. Pepper had just gone into labor and pulling Tony away from that would be the definition of a dick move. Peter had gone with him, but ended up sneaking away when he heard the news about the attack.

"You're right. I'm going with you instead," she decides for him as she digs out her sorceress uniform from her closet, fire blazing in her eyes. She had ended up deciding on a yellow color with a large hood to help conceal her face. It's apparently a common thing among the sorcerers for "public" work. She might need a ski mask or something for this though.

Peter immediately switches into panic mode, "What? No, no, no, no. No, you can't."

If Michelle has learned anything out of this whole mess, it's that if she wants to hold on to something, she needs to be willing to fight for it. And she wants to hold on to Peter. Grabbing Peter by the collar of his Spider-Man suit, she pulls him to her and kisses him as hard as she can, hoping to communicate as much as she can through it. A minute later, they break apart and catch their breath.

"Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually you're going to get in over your head and I am not going to stand by anymore and just hope you come back alive," Michelle declares. "Even if I have to do it with my own bare hands, I will not let my life be written as a tragedy."

And yes, Michelle is fucking terrified. She's putting on a brave front, but good god she is scared.

His emotions swirl in his eyes as she watches, but his face is mostly blank. "I need to do this. I love you," she quietly tells him.

After nearly a minute of staring at each other, Peter face softens and he moves closer to lean his forehead against hers. "I love you too, MJ. I don't have a lot left. Can't you understand why I'm trying to keep you out of this?"

"I don't have much left either, Peter."

Silence. Eventually, he nods. "Okay, but if you're coming with me, then I get to go with you when you do your thing because that's exactly how I feel when you leave."

That ball is in her court now. "Deal." They shake on it.

And so a bargain is struck. Anytime something beyond the norm comes up that would pose additional risk and danger, they notify the other and give them the chance to come too. All things considered, Michelle thinks it wasn't too bad of an idea.

The two of them together defeat Electro in record time. A whopping thirty seconds in, Peter is able to force him through a portal Michelle made. The portal dumped him into the ocean where he promptly short circuited.

* * *

Time passes.

Graduating from high school is painful for all the wrong reasons. Roughly 20% of the student body has no one to come watch them. No one to cheer for them. No one to celebrate with them. Where the announcement of names would frequently be met with joyous applause, it's now completely silent. Just like she had once claimed to Strange, Michelle is acknowledged as valedictorian. She isn't given a chance to give a speech however which is mostly fine. She isn't sure what she would say that doesn't sound completely fake.

Tony comes with Pepper, though they do their best to disguise who they are to avoid drawing attention. Pepper gives them both a big hug after the ceremony is over while Tony rubs Peter's hair and gives him some lighthearted teasing. Despite her misgivings about the man, Michelle is happy that someone like him is in her boyfriend's life. They legitimately care about each other. For all the bad things that have happened, they could have ended up in a much worse position.

Before they pile in to another one of Tony's stupidly expensive cars, Peter turns around and stares at the building where the graduation was held. His face is cracking, but he's holding it together. Michelle moves next to him and gently bumps his shoulder with hers to show her support.

"I just wish May was here, you know? I wish Ned was here," Peter says sadly before quietly adding, "I wish everyone was here."

"Yeah." She wishes her parents had come to see her too.

There's a party thrown afterwards, but it can barely be called that. It's really still just the four of them. Seeing Tony and Pepper interact is, well, she doesn't know the right word. Morgan Stark was born on December 3rd and the two new parents are practically over the moon in happiness with their new daughter. When Michelle watches them, she feels a mixture of jealousy and hope. The jealousy comes from the fact that despite the world going to shit, Tony's managed to carve out a perfect piece of it for himself. Hope, because maybe she might be able to pull it off too. It will never be as good as it could be in her dreams, but maybe it might get close.

All she needs to do is hold on. Just keep holding on.

That night, Michelle falls asleep on the couch. Before her consciousness fades entirely, she overhears a conversation between Peter and Tony.

"Kid," Tony starts helplessly, "you need to go. You need something else. This superhero gig can't be your whole life."

"Maybe MJ has the right idea though. I could do so much more here in the city if I don't go to college," Peter retorts.

"Trust me, I already had a long chat with her about it. At least with her, it's not a constant battle. If you went out as Spider-Man full time, your entire day would be spent fighting endlessly. That's no way to live.

"What am I supposed to do then?"

"You go to school and you learn." Tony pauses for a moment, "Look, I've never said this kind of stuff before because I don't like the idea of laying big expectations on you. After I finish, let's just pretend this never happened, okay?"

Peter must have nodded because Tony continues, "Spider-Man is a cool guy. Strong, agile, and good morals. One day, I think he's going to save the world. If I'm honest, he'll probably do it a few times. Peter Parker though? One day, I think he's going to _change_ the world. There's a big difference. There will come a time where you'll realize that Peter Parker is just as much the star of the show as his superhero alter ego. When that happens, you're going to do something truly amazing. I hope I get to see it."

To Tony's slight disappointment, Peter can't bring himself to leave the city when it needs his help more than ever before. As a compromise, he stays local and gets in to ESU. Sensing an opportunity due to its location in Greenwich Village, Michelle makes a challenge to Wong in a no-restrictions fight to prove that she is capable of a new job.

She wins.

At age 18, about a year and a half after being named a Master of the Mystic Arts, Michelle Jones becomes the newest and youngest ever Guardian of the New York Sanctum. Conveniently, it's located just minutes away from ESU.

Wong, of course, is actually quite ecstatic with being able to move back in to Kamar-Taj full time.

* * *

Time passes.

Every now and then, Michelle wonders if her parents would be proud of her. Her work is important, but she's also kind of broke. Extremely broke. Being a Master of the Mystic Arts is not a well-paying job. She'd like to think she's self-sufficient, but every time she goes out for anything, Peter ends up having to be the one who pays. It's a little humiliating. If there's an upside, she gets to live in the Sanctum which serves as an extremely nice home.

Peter ends up moving in with her when they're 21. The influence that Tony has had on his life is noticeable in nearly everything he does. He spends more time tinkering and reading research papers than ever before. There's even a makeshift lab of his own that he's rigged up in the Sanctum which Wong wasn't too happy with, but he got over it. Peter still talks too much when out as Spider-Man though. Admittedly, that's started rubbing off on Michelle.

There is still the occasional big disaster that they get involved with, but overall, things are starting to stabilize around the world. Census efforts complete in many countries and talks begin about making monuments to memorialize the lost. Michelle isn't sure if there's enough stone on the planet for all those names. Regardless, she winds up finally having normal amounts of free time. The trainees in Kamar-Taj have come along fine and maybe she feels a bit of pride when people she helped teach get promoted to Apprentice. The sorcerer order isn't to a point where she could step away or take a vacation, but maybe in a few years it'll get there.

With her newfound free time, Michelle returns to her writing. She's getting close to finishing a first draft of a book that she'd like to try and get published. Maybe it won't be a bestseller, but it'd be nice to have some real income of her own. If she could do it all over again, Michelle thinks she would have liked to have gone into an English major at Columbia, then be a full-time author/freelance writer with some magic on the side. She's still somewhat okay with how things have turned out career wise, but it could always be better, right?

"Rocket found something when assisting Carol with some cleanup in another galaxy. He thinks it might be something magical and wants you to take a look at it," comes Natasha's voice from her phone. Michelle's got it on speaker while editing a big, climactic chapter.

Michelle stops typing and turns to stare at her phone on the table. "I'm not doing house calls to outer space," she deadpans.

She hadn't seen the Avengers for a long time ever since Thanos was killed, but Michelle was re-introduced to them a year ago when she found Steve and Natasha investigating another dimensional rift. There have been a surprising number of the things in the past few years. Wong speculated that it's related to the energy release of the Infinity Stones being used on Earth and that it should subside in time. When Michelle had arrived, the two Avengers were making some calls to see would could fix the problem, so she stepped in and quickly took care of it. It's amazing how fast you can gain respect when people actually see you do your job rather than just hear about it.

"Is he even sure it's magic? I know the alien tech can get pretty weird," Michelle continues. She can already feel a headache coming on.

"He seems to think so," Natasha answers. "Says it's not something he's used to. I'll see if he can drop it off next time he comes by." The two of them then hang up.

Michelle starts to furiously rub her temples. "You are making business deals with a raccoon. This is completely normal. This your life now. Get used to it," she chants to herself like a mantra.

Idly, she wonders if the Science Fiction genre is just regular Fiction now.

* * *

Time passes

She's 22 now. Peter just graduated from ESU a few days ago and they're still celebrating. It's nice having lots of time for them to just spend with each other. Peter will, of course, need to start looking for a job soon, but he feels like he's earned a little time off.

Tony has long since moved further upstate to a nice cabin by a lake. It's a peaceful place. He invites them over to dinner periodically and routinely keeps trying to get Peter to join his company in a bit of a running gag. Whenever Michelle looks at Pepper though, she's got this evil glint in her eyes that implies she's got plans of her own. Michelle is convinced the older woman could have taken over the world if she tried.

Morgan is adorable and Peter tries to spoil her something terrible. It gets Michelle thinking about what kind of future she can still cobble together. Peter and Michelle have been very careful to avoid a pregnancy because their lives are too weird to possibly handle a kid, but she thinks she'd like one though at some point, despite the fact that she still isn't exactly rolling in cash.

The money thing has become a big point of insecurity for her. Intellectually, she knows that Peter loves her. The astonishment that Michelle actually loves him back is written all over his face every time they talk. It's like he can't believe how lucky he's gotten despite everything, but Michelle can't stop feeling bad because there's nothing that she can offer him. She's considered wanting to talk to Peter about future stuff like marriage and kids, but it feels wrong because every time she imagines how the conversation would go, it comes out sounding like she just wants him for his money. The fact that Peter has yet bring up any similar topics leaves Michelle a little concerned that maybe they aren't on the same page.

Her personal issues aside, the world is doing... okay. "Okay" might be stretching it, but there's a semblance of normality now. The number one job in the world is still grief counseling and seeing people break down and cry is still a completely routine experience, but there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Michelle has a new personal record of making three weeks without a nightmare. Peter's best so far is two.

As much as Michelle would like to enjoy this quiet time, something is bound to go wrong eventually. It all starts when Michelle gets a call in the middle of the night.

The sound of her phone ringing startles her into waking and she groggily begins flailing to stop the offending noise. A check of the time reveals that it's 3:28 AM and Bruce Banner is calling. She hits the ignore button and sends him to voicemail before wrapping herself back up in the covers.

The phone starts ringing again. Carefully untangling herself from Peter's arms, Michelle reaches over and grabs her phone. An amusing fact about Peter that Michelle learns is that he can sleep through anything. If there is actual danger, his spider sense thing wakes him up in an instant, but otherwise he's practically dead to the world. A glance at the caller shows that it's Bruce again.

She picks up this time. "My consulting hours are between when I wake up and when I go to bed. This is not within that timeframe," Michelle grumbles with a slightly hoarse voice and hangs up on him.

The phone rings a third time. Ugh. Slowly crawling out of bed to avoid waking Peter, Michelle steps out into the hall and answers the phone. Before she says anything, Banner's voice can be faintly heard talking to someone else, "It's fine. Don't worry about it. She just gets a little grumpy if you call this early."

Michelle pulls the phone away from her ear and wonders if she should just hang up on him again. Figuring that he'll probably keep calling, she decides to see what this is all about, "This had better be good."

"Michelle! Hey, I need a favor," Bruce says cheerily, as if it wasn't some godforsaken hour, "I need all the information you guys have on time travel. I'm specifically looking for concerns on branching timelines, anything that can be done to stabilize it, and whatever you have on the Infinity Stones."

Fucking hell. What is all this about? Taking a deep breath, Michelle hangs up and casts a quick spell to track Bruce. He's in the Avengers compound. Sneaking back into her bedroom to get her sling ring, she puts it on and opens a portal right into the room where he's located.

Seeing Bruce in his large, green, Hulk form full-time is probably something she'll never get used to. Compared to the more savage look of the Hulk from years past, he now looks so... normal. He's just a bigger, greener, Bruce Banner. A few years ago he learned to merge his intellect with the Hulk's brawn and the result is, well, this. He's not the only one in the room of course. There's the usual suspects whenever the Avengers are involved: Steve and Natasha. There's also some other guy she doesn't recognize.

Realizing she's still wearing the t-shirt and sweatpants she wore to bed, Michelle taps her shoulder to transform her clothes into her uniform as a Master of the Mystic Arts. With a flow of orange light down her body, yellow robes unfurl and replace what she was previously wearing in nearly an instant. Plopping down in a chair, Michelle tiredly asks, "Alright, you've got my attention. What's all this about now?"

"We're working on making a time machine," Bruce explains as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "By using the Quantum Realm, we think we can pull this off. I want to bounce some stuff off of you to make sure it won't cause any big problems."

Right. She's just going to pretend she knows what the hell the Quantum Realm is. "You're saying you found a way to time travel through science?" May was right. World gets weirder every year.

"Yes! Someone has already done it once, but we just aren't sure how to control-"

The unknown man interrupts him, "Okay, I need to cut in here. Am I dreaming? Does no one else see the whole-" the man starts moving his right hand around in a circle while making whooshing noises. Oh, he's referring to the portal she left open behind her. It's a habit she picked up to make sure she could keep an eye on the Sanctum when she leaves it.

Natasha steps in to make introductions. "Scott, this is Michelle Jones. She's our local expert on," she reaches for the right word, "weird stuff. Michelle, this is Scott Lang. You might have heard of him as Ant-Man."

Michelle squints, "Who?" Apparently, that was the wrong question to ask because Scott deflates like a popped balloon.

"It doesn't matter," Bruce says. "This is the man who traveled through time. We think we can use his tech to go back into the past."

"To what end?" she asks as she gets up and paces around. "I'm pretty sure I should be stopping you guys from doing this."

Steve explains the goal, "We plan to get the Infinity Stones from the past and use them to bring everyone back."

And she's left completely speechless.

Five years.

Five years of grief, regrets, and learning to move on.

When Michelle Jones finally gets a second chance, nearly a quarter of her life has been spent watching the world try and piece itself back together.

Five years.

* * *

**I got weirdly inspired and hammered this out pretty quick, which is funny because not a lot happens here for the overall plot. This is largely a transitional/exploration chapter that gives me an opportunity to see the world a little and imagine some highlights.**

**Couple small notes:**

**1\. For those unaware, ESU (Empire State University) is a fictional college that Spider-Man canonically went to in the comics. The exact location is never given, but it's somewhere in Greenwich Village nearby NYU.**

**2\. For those who have been waiting for it, we're going to see just what MJ is capable of now pretty soon. A short excerpt:**

**"Gaining strength as a sorceress is a cycle of study and practice. It's not an overnight thing. In some perspectives, you could view getting stronger as a function of time.**

**And five years is a lot of time."**


	8. Setting Up The Board

It turns out you wake up very quickly when presented with the possibility of fixing your biggest regret.

"This," Michelle says as she drops a heavy and decorative tome on the table, "is the Book of Cagliostro. It contains all of the knowledge we have on how the Time Stone works and the dangers of screwing with the timeline. There's also a bunch of rituals that could destroy the world so I can't let you read it. Actually, if you even try to take this thing from me, I'm probably obligated to kill you."

"Yikes," mutters Scott as she takes a seat and begins to thumb through it. Michelle has already read a fair bit of it some time ago because anything from the Sorcerer Supreme's personal collection is bound to be interesting.

Steve leans back in his chair, "Anything in particular we should know about?"

"Well," she begins slowly and drifts into lecture mode as if she was teaching in Kamar-Taj, "there's a few things. I think Bruce may have already mentioned this, but changes to the past don't affect the future. It just spins off into a different branch of its own. However, this doesn't mean you're free to do whatever you want. You have to take into consideration their world. This is bigger than just us. There are other us's that deserve to not be screwed over by people from the future."

"What do you mean?"

Michelle sways a little in thought before she thinks of an example, "Hypothetically, you could go back in time, kill Vision, and take the stone out of his head. You don't want to do that because without him, that past timeline will be in trouble. This also means that we need to return the stones after we're done."

Steve nods in understanding, "You're saying to try and keep it discreet."

"Essentially," she confirms. "You can mess with the past, but don't go overboard. If this plan works, we want to give other timelines the chance to pull it off too."

There's actually another thing, but she's not sure what to think about it. Messing with time can cause dimensional instability. It has already been worse than normal due to the aftereffects of Thanos' snap, but this could amplify it. Michelle doesn't think it'll destroy the world or anything, but she'll be extremely busy for the foreseeable future. If this was being done for any other reason, she'd stop them.

_Will I ever be able to scale back or quit? Maybe never. But if this works – if this crazy idea they have actually works – we'd have the full roster of sorcerers back. I could settle down a little. That happy ending I've been searching for isn't so out of reach all of a sudden._

Peter ends up walking through the portal from the Sanctum that she kept open. "Uh, good morning everyone," he yawns out. The appearance of a portal in the middle of the home he now stays in is a complete non-surprise to him. He's long since gotten used to all the weird shit that Michelle has brought into his life.

She takes a moment to just watch as the others greet him. Her boyfriend always wakes up with a look on his face that can only be described as innocent. It's like there's sixty seconds where Michelle can see him as just regular Peter before the weight of the world comes crashing back down upon him. She never tells him that he does it, but she treasures that moment each time she sees it.

It's a dash of normality in their world.

"I take it our vacation is over?" Peter asks, still a little groggy.

Michelle gives him an apologetic smile, "Yeah, sorry. You're going to want to hear about this."

There's a look on his face that lightly surprises her. They're both used to plans falling though due to unexpected things coming up, but he looks much more upset than he typically does when this happens. Bruce ends up calling Peter over, leaving Michelle to wonder if she's missing something.

Scott gives Peter a quick overview of what's going on and what he knows about the Quantum Realm. The idea of being able to shrink so small that normal logic no longer applies is pretty unique. The science of it all is a bit beyond her other than a basic understanding and conversational level, but Peter seems to follow along. When he finally catches on to what the ultimate goal is, he snaps back around to look at Michelle. His face is tight, too scared to express the hope she knows he's feeling.

Against common sense, she thinks maybe it's okay to hope this time.

* * *

A bunch of people in Kamar-Taj owe her favors so it's easy to get someone to cover for her in the Sanctum. She sticks around in the compound while Scott pulls out the equipment from his van and they start discussing how this could all work. She listens in for a time, but ends up tuning out when they start talking about something called Pym Particles. It's mid day now so Michelle heads outside to get a little training in.

Gaining strength as a sorceress is a cycle of study and practice. It's not an overnight thing. Viewed one way, you could say that getting stronger is a function of time.

And five years is a lot of time.

It's a testament to just how talented Stephen Strange was that Michelle has effectively had 6 years of experience compared to his two and she's still not quite as good as he was. Granted, she could put up one hell of a fight now. Many spells she had seen him use are now fully within her capabilities to cast except for some of the most difficult at top end such as the Images of Ikonn.

Not wanting to go into the Mirror Dimension just in case she's needed, she keeps it to slightly less destructive things. Using stuff like the Bolts of Balthakk would tear up the lawn more than she should so she plays with a different spell.

Creating a circular motion with her hands as if winding up something large, she expels energy that takes the form of massive winds. The first time she saw the Winds of Watoomb spell was when Strange cast it to clear the large dust clouds in the air right before the attack where he was taken. It's probably one of her favorites.

With various motions and gestures, Michelle guides the gusts as close to herself as possible and then expands them out. She repeats the process a few times and slowly does it faster each run. It's a flexible spell, allowing near total control of wind bursts that are easily strong enough to blow away people or even cars if focused enough. If kept wound close to herself, it can act as a defensive measure, but a more fun way to use it is...

Michelle begins to twist the winds together in a circular motion and it starts to take the form of-

"Show-off," Peter says as he approaches. His hands are in his pockets, but there's a fond smile on his face as he approaches.

She lets the spell drop and all the dirt or other bits of debris the winds had picked up fall back to the earth. "Miss me already?" she asks with a small grin.

"Err, we're done for now," he explains as he walks up next to her. "We technically pulled it off, but we couldn't control where it was going. I've learned more about quantum mechanics in the past 6 hours than in the past 4 years. It's a little exciting."

"You're making a time machine. I know this is more than a 'little' exciting to you." Michelle knows he loves to go full nerd with Bruce Banner.

"You got me," he puts his hands up in mock surrender with a small laugh.

At first glance, Peter seems relaxed, but closer observation tells the whole story. Michelle can see his body practically vibrating. It's more extreme than she would have expected, even if she accounted for his hope of bringing everyone back. Is he nervous about something?

"Worried that this isn't going to work?" she ventures.

"Um, no. No. Actually, I feel pretty confident that it'll work. We just haven't found the solution yet. I want to believe that."

What's got him so wound up? For a moment, Michelle thinks about trying to talk about the big future plans cloud that has been hanging over her head, but she ends up changing her mind. He's too skittish right now and if he's already rambling, it might just scare him off.

"You think you should get Stark's help on this?" she asks.

He shifts in place a little, "Apparently they already asked him. He said no."

Odd. Not sure what to say, she instead takes his hand and starts walking back to the compound, "Come on, we should head back. I think Tony wanted us over at his place tonight for dinner anyway so you can ask him about it then."

Peter sighs, "Yeah, okay. You should've seen Scott's face when he saw you out here practicing."

"He wears a suit that can shrink his body to the size of an insect and he thinks magic is weird?"

"Apparently when they told him you could do magic, he thought they meant card tricks or something."

"But he literally saw me make a portal. What did he think that was?"

* * *

"Peter! MJ!" Pepper greets as she opens the door to the Stark cabin. She reaches out and hugs both Peter and Michelle.

"Hi Pepper," he returns with a smile. "Where's Morgan?"

"Dinner!" comes the cheery voice of a little girl. From around the side of the home, Tony Stark appears with Morgan Stark carried on his shoulders.

"Hey kid," Tony says as he sets his daughter down.

"Tony, I'm 22. You can stop calling me that."

"Nah," the man declines. "Pretty sure you're stuck with it. Say hi to your brother, Morgan."

The girl barely spares him more than a passing thought with a quick "Hi!" before racing inside, apparently too tempted by the meal.

"Brat," Tony mutters fondly

Before they head inside, Peter catches Tony's attention and asks, "Why don't you want to help with the Quantum Realm project?"

His eyes seem catch in surprise for a moment, "They dragged you two into this?"

"Are you kidding me?" Peter nearly exclaims. "It's a chance to bring May back. How could I not try?"

The older man scratches his head for a moment, his eyes suddenly looking tired, "We'll chat about it later. Come on in. No talking shop over food."

After eating, Peter takes Morgan down by the lake to try and teach her how to skip rocks on the water. Michelle stays up on the porch of the cabin to watch and Tony joins her shortly after cleaning up and washing the dishes.

It really is peaceful out here. She takes a moment to close her eyes and absorb the ambiance of it all.

"Did Pete ever tell you about what happened in space?"

Snapped from her thoughts, Michelle shakes her head while watching the scene by the lake, "He didn't like to talk about it much."

"Before Thanos came, the doc was doing some meditation thing with the Time Stone. He said he looked into some 14 million possible outcomes of the fight and that we only won in one of them."

Michelle chews on that information for a moment and Tony continues, "There was a point where we actually got his gauntlet off for just a split second before everything fell apart. That was it. Right there. We lost our one chance. Then Strange traded the Time Stone away to save my life."

He gave away the stone? All this time Michelle had assumed the it would have been taken over his dead body. He was always absurdly careful with the thing other than when he had demonstrated it to her a couple times. "Okay..." she prompts him to go on, unsure where this is going.

"Now Lang shows up with wild tales of time travel and everyone falls over themselves at the possibility."

Is he implying that this might be the one path to victory? "Is it so bad to hope?"

Morgan runs back over to Peter with a smile pile of rocks to throw. He grabs one and shows her how to do it. It doesn't bounce a single time and goes right in. The two of them get a good laugh.

"The best years of my life have been after Thanos. I've got my own little family now. I can't lose it."

What is he on about? "Even if they figure it out, I'm sure they'd understand if you don't want to go. Changing the past doesn't affect us," Michelle offers as an option for him to help without risking anything.

He turns away from Peter and Morgan to look at Michelle, "I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about how the stones would be used."

Huh? It takes a second, but his vague statement begins clearing up. It's something she admittedly hadn't even thought about yet. She was too caught up in the idea that she could fix all this – that maybe she could finally earn forgiveness – that she hadn't even thought about the specifics.

"You don't want to revert everything," she assumes. It makes perfect sense. Turning back the universe's clock to before the snap would bring everyone back to life and would instantly set things back to normal, but Morgan would no longer exist.

Tony nods, "I've got a lot to lose."

"Wasn't Pepper already pregnant at the time?" Michelle points out. "Peter told me you did an embarrassing 'I told you so' dance or something right after you recovered from the trip back from space."

"Yes, but you'll remember we also had some close calls. There were complications."

That's entirely true. Still, they're getting ahead of themselves. It's not like they can even get any of the stones yet. "So, you don't want to try getting the time machine to work because you're afraid of the result?"

There's a long pause where neither of them say anything other than watch Peter and Morgan have their little rock skipping competition.

"I already figured it out," he reveals.

Her breath catches in her throat and Michelle wonders if she forgot how to breathe for a second. Down the hill, Peter's arm freezes for a moment in an obvious indication that he's listening in with his super-hearing.

"What!? Why don't you show them how it works?" she says a little louder than intended.

"I've got a lot to lose," he reminds her calmly.

Now frustrated with the solution being within reach, she asks him, "Then how would you do it?"

"Take all the vanished and move them to now. Easy."

_No. It's not that easy. My parents don't have a home to go back to._

"Where would they go? All of their homes are ransacked and run down due to being abandoned for so long! None of them would have jobs! There'd be hundreds of millions of homeless!" she's losing her temper. _Calm down, Michelle. _

What possessions and bank accounts remained were passed down to inheritors. 3.5 billion people would appear with nowhere to go and nothing to their names. How the hell is that going to work? God, Ned would still be 17.

"All of which are things we can prepare for."

"You must be fucking joking," she blows up at him. _Okay, not calming down_. "You weren't there those first few weeks when everyone disappeared. It was chaos. Total chaos. This would do it all over again. You can't just hand wave that away!"

"What, you'd rather revert it?"

Michelle thinks about it for a full two seconds, "Yes, in fact I would."

"So you would be okay with removing all children age 4 and under from existence?"

Her prior readings into the nature of time have given her some perspective on this kind of thing. What he's saying is technically true in a sense, but also they'll be born again. It's not like birth rates were very high after Thanos. The vast majority of survivors lost their significant others. The ones that were lucky simply didn't want to try and raise a child when the state of the world was in flux.

"Are you okay with ignoring all the people who couldn't cope and killed themselves? Do you even know how big that number is?" she counters with her own question. After Peter had started trying to help people like Wendy, Michelle had done a surprising amount of research into the topic.

Tony clenches his jaw. "Tell me," he challenges, "would you be so willing to revert it if it killed Peter?"

Her mouth clamps shut with an audible click.

"That's what I thought. You're just lucky you're not the one with something to lose."

Morgan beats Peter in their contest. No one celebrates.

* * *

Research progress into stabilizing the use of the Quantum Realm slows to non-existent. He never says it outright, but Peter's heart suddenly isn't in it so much anymore after her argument with Tony. Even conversations between Peter and Michelle are less involved and muted.

She thinks she may have made a big mistake.

Michelle contemplates going back and apologizing for a few days, but she isn't sure if she'd mean it. Reverting everything sounds like the right solution to her, but Tony's solution is better than none at all. Considering that Peter doesn't seem to like the idea of going behind his back, she'll just have to compromise.

Perhaps it's fate when Tony Stark shows up at the door of the Sanctum.

"Hi?" Michelle greets uncertainly before letting Tony inside. "Peter's not here right now."

"That's fine. I'm here for you," he tells her. He steps in and takes a look around. Tony doesn't come over here much for various reasons. A large part of it is her own assumption that he just likes staying further away from the city now that he's effectively retired aside from working on his company.

"I'm sorry," she blurts out before allowing her mind to think too hard about if she really wanted to do that.

Tony turns back to her with a long stare and sighs. "Pepper overheard our little argument."

Michelle cringes a bit. Hopefully she didn't cause problems with their marriage. "What did she say?" she asks.

"Her exact words were: 'Those two have grown up a lot into good people, Tony. Peter's aunt and Michelle's parents deserved the chance to see it happen.'"

That's one way of looking at it. With Tony's plan, her parents would come back, but it would be weird for them. Michelle is older now. She's moved out and starting to live her own life. She'd see even less of them than ever before and maybe never get a chance to really reconcile with them. The same could be said for May. Peter wouldn't be living with her anymore and the sudden change would practically give her whiplash.

"She wants you to turn it all back?" she asks.

"Much to my displeasure. Unfortunately, she wears the pants in my house so she tends to get her way a lot."

Michelle lets out a breath she was holding. "Thank you," she whispers.

"Yeah, well, don't get your hopes up so soon. We still have to get everyone else on board with the same plan. There's one ground rule I'm setting on this though," Tony states firmly. "If this is the one possible future where we win – if this is Strange's ultimate plan – him and I are going to have problems if his plan involves me losing part of my family."

She can't blame him in the slightest and doesn't think she would try to stop him.

On Tony's way out the door, he stops, "You know, I almost adopted Peter. I had the paperwork ready and everything. All I needed to do was talk to him about it. Then I realized that I was excited."

After a pause he goes on, "I wish I could claim that he's my kid, but he's not. He's May's. So when I realized that I was excited about the fact that a very good, loving woman was dead, I got disgusted with myself and tore up the papers."

That's kind of fascinating. "He knows. Not about the adoption, but..." she trails off, not wanting to explicitly say the words. "You mean a lot to him. He owes you a lot. Hell, I owe you a lot."

Tony nods and points between the two of them, "You and I, we're not that close. Not like I am with Peter. We both get that. You're more like a weird family friend. But I can't pretend that bringing everyone back alive to now is the best choice for you two. Pep is right. May deserves all the time she can get with Peter. I need to give her back the time I stole."

Many years ago, Michelle used to think that Tony Stark was an asshole. He was a dick on TV interviews and had his name plastered all over the world. She thinks she can see him better now for who he is.

"Every now and then, I start to think you're a good person, Stark. You probably should leave before I change my mind."

With a grin, Tony steps outside, slides on his sunglasses in an overly dramatic fashion and closes the door behind him.

"Still a bit of a dick sometimes," she mutters to herself.

* * *

Things begin falling into place. Tony meets up with Steve, Natasha, Peter, and Bruce to talk about it. Peter wavered a little on the idea of reverting time because he loves Morgan too, but goes along with it. Surprisingly, the others don't really care about the exact details on the "how". Steve and Natasha especially could have gone either way. Tony ends up pointing out that they'd be fugitives again, but Steve doesn't care. Everything sorted itself out once and it'll happen again.

Michelle would never forgive herself if she didn't participate in the mission to save the universe so she prepares to practically bully her way in, but no one questions her presence at the compound. No one tries to tell her that she shouldn't be there. It's nice.

The device that Tony created to facilitate travel through the Quantum Realm is like a large watch. She doesn't have a clue how it works.

"Just put it on and tap the face twice. It'll take care of the rest." Tony explains.

Michelle does so. A white and black suit with red highlights flows out of the watch over her body. She's seen nanotech plenty of times in Peter's suits and his own work in his lab, but she's never used it herself. It feels weird.

It's also the ugliest thing she's ever seen.

"Nope. I will not be seen wearing this," she demands of Stark.

He just rolls his eyes at her, "Relax. Hit the button on the side."

After doing so, all the nanites in the suit reform into something more familiar. Instead of what she was wearing moments ago, it has transformed into her usual yellow sorceress robes. It even feels like normal cloth.

How the fuck does it work? This is some serious bullshit.

"Right. Okay. This is acceptable I suppose," she allows, trying to pretend that she's not utterly baffled as to how crazy Stark's cutting edge technology is.

Tony sees right though her and laughs.

* * *

Word gets out quick. A couple of days later, Nebula and Rocket show up from space followed by Rhodey shortly after. Rocket leaves with Bruce to go pick up Thor from New Asgard in Norway and Natasha goes off somewhere without much of an explanation.

This leaves Tony and Peter to handle much of the initial construction of a larger quantum tunnel than the one in Scott's van. The whole idea of what's going to happen still sounds silly to her. They're going to wear special suits that shrink their bodies to such a small size that they access a space where normal logic and physics no longer apply. Then, using some kind of special device Tony made, they can navigate that space to travel time.

God, that sounds absurd.

All in all, there isn't actually that much for her to do right now. Michelle spends some time thinking about how best to prepare and winds up doing a lot of refresher study from the Book of Cagliostro. Retrieving the Time Stone may require her to be able to open the Eye of Agamotto so she needs to know how to do that. Aside from that, she largely waits.

"You okay?" Peter asks as he sits down beside her. He's taking a break. Michelle is cashing in on nearly all of her favors owed to her by getting people to watch the Sanctum while she's gone. Wong is probably starting to get suspicious.

"Yeah? Should something be wrong?" she asks cautiously.

"Nope, just checking. Want to have a big, scary conversation with me?"

That's ominous. Michelle puts on a fake thoughtful face. "Depends. Will I be running away, screaming?"

He pretends to think about it for a moment, "That's actually a possibility."

"I guess I'll have to deal with it then," she lightly comments, hoping that he's overreacting.

Peter rubs his hands along his pants to wipe off sweat. "You remember me talking to you before about Parker Luck?" he asks.

Michelle furrows her brow. "That's the catch-all excuse you would use whenever anything goes wrong, right?"

"First of all, ouch." he says with a light laugh. "I had some big plans that got scrapped when the Avengers all showed up and this big plan got started."

That confirms her theory about why he looked so upset that day. "What kind of plans?" she fishes for information.

Peter pauses for a long time, seeming to waver back and forth on if he should answer the question. Eventually, he says, "I had a whole day planned out for us. There was a bunch of cheesy romantic stuff you'd hate ready to go and then at the end of it I was going to ask you to marry me."

Um.

Um.

What.

Michelle's brain short circuits for a few moments because _oh my god this is really happening_.

"You can still do that," she slowly says. Why is he acting like he can't do that anymore?

He makes sure to try and keep eye contact with her as he goes all in, "If we pull this off though, we'll be teenagers again. We'll be too young and it'll get complicated."

Torn between feeling furious at Peter for dangling this in front of her and agreeing that he has a point, Michelle's mind melts down at the utter stupidity of this turn of events.

"May," Peter's face cracks in various emotions at the reminder of her death, "She wouldn't understand."

That's fair. Her own parents would probably be pretty judgmental about it if she married right out of high school.

"I wouldn't be living in the Sanctum anymore so I can't give us a free place to stay," Michelle carefully says, trying to broach her big issue. "I'm never going to be independently wealthy. I hope you know that."

"MJ, I've known that for years. Is this what's been bothering you? That's like, the last thing I could possibly care about. We'll figure it out." Is it really that simple? Michelle doesn't think it is, but maybe some things can be taken on faith alone.

To think that if this hadn't come up, she'd be engaged right now. "Parker Luck, huh," she says out loud to herself.

Fuck it. She's not letting this chance slide by.

"You can still ask, you know," Michelle hints to him while making sure to hold eye contact, trying to get some kind of positive outcome out of this conversation.

He maintains contact as well. "Will you wait for me? It'll be a few years," Peter asks lowly.

She thinks she might be crying a little. "Peter, I've invaded other dimensions for you. I can wait."

There's a ring, of course. She doesn't look at it. It's not important. His eyes tell her everything she wants to know.

"Michelle Jones, will you marry me in approximately negative two or three years?"

Negative two or three years. Even after all this time, he's still a loser.

"Of course, you dork."

Peter doesn't return from his break until the next day which prompts a few confused voicemails from Tony.

* * *

The remaining people that are to be involved start showing up. Natasha returns with a man she doesn't recognize, but Peter immediately identifies him as Clint Barton – Hawkeye. Bruce and Rocket return with Thor. Peter and Clint actually hit it off fairly well once he explains that he's Spider-Man.

Thor is... not what she expected. He's overweight, depressed, and seemingly in a constant state of light intoxication. His hair and beard are a mess. If it wasn't for the fact that this doesn't seem to bother everyone else, Michelle would be extremely concerned. Is he even still able to fight?

Construction finishes around this time so the first order of business to make sure time travel actually works. No point in wasting everyone's time with planning if it's not possible. Clint offers to be the test subject.

Michelle moves next to Peter and holds his hand for the moment of truth. This is what it all comes down to. She put the ring on, but no one's honestly noticed or commented on it and they don't want to distract everyone by making a big scene. There are bigger things at play right now.

After a countdown, Clint vanishes from the large staging platform. Five seconds later, he returns, albeit disoriented. After Natasha helps him to his feet, he reports that it works.

The hope Michelle has been holding on to rages.

* * *

Immediately, everyone switches to the planning phase and moves into a conference room. Displays of the six Infinity Stones appear on the wall with all known info about them.

"Okay, so the how works," Steve begins. "Now we've got to figure out the when and the where. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones."

"Or, substitute the word 'encounter' for 'damn near been killed' by one," Tony chimes in.

Bruce brings up another worrying point, "Pym Particles are used as the fuel to make it work and we don't have a lot of them. We'll only get one shot at this."

So they begin to plot out everything they know about the different stones, primarily focusing on optimal places and times they could be taken from. Surprisingly, Steve calls Michelle up first.

"I don't believe I know who you are," Clint comments as Michelle gets up.

She probably should introduce herself. She's never spoken with a few of these people before. Specifically Nebula, Thor, and Clint. "Michelle Jones, Master of the Mystic Arts."

He seems confused and looks over to Natasha. "Magic," she explains to him.

"Oh. Cool," is all Clint says, completely taking it in stride. Michelle assumes he's probably seen enough weird shit in his time.

"A witch?" Thor jumps in. "I met a wizard here once, but was not aware there were more."

"I prefer the term 'sorceress'." No one else says anything so she gets started.

One of the best things Wong ever taught her was how to do the image projection spell. It's phenomenal for teaching. Rather than using the electronic displays, Michelle creates her own via an illusion. Taking a breath, she begins the lecture, "The Time Stone has been kept by the Masters of the Mystic Arts for thousands of years. As such, it's my responsibility to get it. It's always been on Earth in roughly the same location: Either in Kamar-Taj or with the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Where is that, exactly?" Natasha asks.

That's kind of supposed to be a secret. She bounces back and forth on deciding if she should reveal it before thinking it's probably okay given the circumstances. "Kathmandu," is all she says.

Getting back to the debrief, "The Time Stone was last held by Stephen Strange, but only recently. He became a sorcerer in 2016. Prior to that, the one in charge is this woman, known only as The Ancient One." Her projection shifts to display the same bald woman that Wong showed her when he offered the position of Master.

"She looks pretty good for being called 'ancient'," Tony comments.

"It's rumored that she was about 700 years old. She kept herself immortal by using power from the Dark Dimension."

"Dark Dimension? You've got to be kidding me. That sounds made up," Clint says dismissively.

Thor cuts in, suddenly interested, "Oh, it's a real place. She must be quite powerful. You think you are strong enough to fight her?"

"I think I stand the best chance out of all of us"

"I have faced many a witch in my time, what makes this one so different?"

Annoyed by Thor second guessing her, Michelle answers, "There are a lot of spells and techniques that you wouldn't be able to deal with unless you were familiar with them."

"Show me," Thor demands. Why does he want to fight The Ancient One so bad?

Well, he asked for it. Sliding on her sling ring, Michelle opens a portal beneath his chair and he falls through before he even registers what is happening. Thor is now gone. Gone from the Physical Realm actually. An awkward silence descends upon the room.

Peter might be laughing a little. It spreads to a few others.

"So, we can have him back, right?" Rhodey asks.

"I did what he wanted,"

"Please bring Thor back," Steve gets out, exasperated, and puts his head in his hands.

Motioning her hand in a circle, Michelle creates a new portal on the ceiling. As expected, Thor falls through and slams into the ground where he was sitting previously. A second later, the chair follows and lands on him with a grunt.

"I believe," he says as he gets up and sets the chair back, "that I owe my brother an apology."

* * *

No one questions her claim to the Time Stone.

The group decides to try and get the Space and Mind stones at the same time from the 2012 New York invasion. That means three stones will be on Earth and three will be in space. The question is, when is the best time to try and get the Time Stone?

If she were to go all out war, the optimal time to assault Kamar-Taj would probably be immediately after The Ancient One died. Lots of sorcerers lost their lives in the attacks and Strange wouldn't be strong enough to effectively take her place yet. The problem with that strategy is that she doesn't want to kill anyone. Killing a past Strange would probably doom that timeline.

This leaves going to a time right before Thanos arrived and trying to talk Strange into giving her the stone or going back to 2012 with the others and trying to talk The Ancient One into giving it to her. Both have flaws. Frankly, she has no idea how either person would react. There is a reasonable chance of conflict and she'll only get backup if she goes to 2012 with the others so she agrees to go back to then.

"So who's going where?" Rhodey asks. "I don't mind going to space, but I already called 'Not It' on Vormir,"

"Drifting in one broken down spaceship was enough for me," Tony says. "I'm staying on Earth, thank you very much."

There's a lot of back and forth. Some spots are automatically filled due people with knowledge of the area needing to be involved. As such, Thor goes to Asgard for the Reality Stone. Rocket or Nebula need to go to Morag since they're the two that best know Peter Quill just in case something goes wrong. A big problem is Vormir.

"We really have no idea how to get the Soul Stone other than a rough idea of where it is?" Peter asks. "I've seen the Time Stone once or twice, but that's it. I could go to Vormir."

Natasha disagrees, "You're more useful in urban areas. Lots of things to climb. You're probably best off in Asgard or New York."

"Fair," he concedes, leaning back in his chair.

People end up pairing off with others that they've worked with in the past. Rocket goes with Thor to Asgard. Natasha and Clint opt to go to Vormir, but it's hotly debated.

"You sure? We've no idea what's waiting for you," Steve cautions.

"Sounds like he just went there and found the stone. No fighting at all. A couple of spies are best for that kind of action." Clint defends himself.

Rhodey and Nebula pair up for the Power Stone. This leaves six people for New York. Except, there's a problem.

"Since there's only three different time periods involved, it'll be a lot easier to return the stones. We're still low on Pym Particles though. One of us will have to stay behind. That should probably be me since I'm most familiar with the tech involved aside from Tony. I can pull anyone back if needed." Bruce explains.

After some thought, Tony agrees, "It'd be hard for you to blend in back in 2012. You're cuddly now."

With that, the planning phase finishes and they break to make their own arrangements, collect gear, or otherwise get a good night's sleep. The mission starts tomorrow.

_One chance to get the Time Stone from The Ancient One by any means necessary. I hope I don't fuck this up._


	9. I'll Show The World

"I hate it here."

Michelle can't find it within herself to disagree. It's a creepy and unsettling place. When the monuments to memorialize the lost were built, decisions were made to build them in various local areas for each city rather than trying to put them all in one central location. This made it easier for people to come visit the people they mourn on a regular basis rather than having to make an extensive trip to DC or wherever it would have gone. The location chosen for Queens is in a cemetery. Perhaps it's appropriate, but it's eerie.

Each person lost is engraved on large stone tablets. Before Michelle rests the names of her parents. Theresa and Franklin Jones.

"You okay?" Peter checks on her and pulls Michelle closer to him.

A nod. "When this," she waves helplessly to the large stone monuments, "happened, there were a ton of car wrecks right outside my apartment. People were dying or injured in the streets and I was having a breakdown in my bedroom. I was trying to hide away from it all. When I went out the next morning to look for everyone, I think a few of them still had bodies inside and I just didn't want to mentally acknowledge it. I had enough guilt on my plate as it was."

Peter tries to make it better with a quick kiss and saying, "I don't think anyone could blame you."

It doesn't work. "I wish I could believe that."

The mission to retrieve the Infinity Stones from the past starts in 5 hours. It's currently just after dawn and they've come out to see their old friends and family. Michelle wanted to remind herself why she's doing this.

"You once told me you had a debt to the universe." Michelle jabs a finger at the names of her parents, "This is mine. A very literal debt to everyone I've let down. That's why I need to do this. It's why I need to go and see this through."

Peter doesn't say anything. Michelle has learned he's not a big fan of graveyards. Losing his parents and then his uncle has led to too many unhappy memories here that he doesn't want to relive.

"Did you go say hi to May?" she asks.

He shakes his head, "I went to go see Ben since he's nearby, but not May."

Michelle isn't sure how to interpret that. "Why not?"

"I'll be able to do it in person soon enough."

* * *

The Avengers compound has the full team inside, but it's quiet. No one is speaking and likely mentally preparing themselves or gathering gear. Michelle herself had made two more stops before arriving.

The first stop was to Kamar-Taj to have a long chat with Wong about what's going on just in case the worst comes to pass. As expected, he thinks the entire plan is unwise, but simultaneously thinks that it needs to be done. When they part, Michelle makes sure to thank him for everything he did for her. Wong really didn't need to take her in when she had nowhere else to go, but he did it anyway.

The second stop was back to the New York Sanctum to grab a couple relics that might help. There's actually only one thing she really wants to bring, but the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak are a little too awkwardly shaped to carry around. To help, she grabs a magical pouch that expands to hold any item and is larger on the inside than out. Peter calls it a Bag of Holding in reference to a similar Dungeons and Dragons item. It's actually an apt name.

When everyone is ready, they meet in the hangar and huddle up. Everyone is wearing their own suit that navigates the Quantum Realm. Bruce has one on too just in case, but he's staying behind.

In full Captain America mode, Steve gives the pregame speech, "Five years ago, we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves. Today, we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams, you know your missions. Get the stones, get them back."

Michelle has heard recordings of big speeches he's heard before and she'll admit, he's really damn good at it. Maybe she's a bit biased, but she prefers the kinds of speeches that Peter gives.

"One round trip each. No mistakes. No do-overs. Most of us are going somewhere we know, that doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives. And we're going to win. Whatever it takes. Good luck," Steve finishes.

The time machine they made is on a large staging platform. Next to it is a small lab where the suits and Pym Particles were stored.

"Oh, wait!" Peter speaks up before they get on to the platform, "Um, I've got some stuff for my team. MJ is frequently in other planes of existence so I had to make some new communicators that work across dimensions. It gets a little fuzzy the further away from our reality she gets, but it's the best I have right now"

He passes out new earpieces to Stark, Lang, and Rogers. It's true. A couple years ago he got fed up with sometimes losing touch with her when they worked together so he spent a ton of time doing analysis and managed to find a way to make it work. He even invented a visual detection layer that can tell where Michelle is, but it only works in dimensions very close to the normal world like the Mirror Dimension or the Astral Plane.

"You invented communicators that work across dimensions and never told me?" Tony fakes being stabbed through the heart, but there's obvious pride in his voice.

Strangely, she doesn't feel nervous at all. Honestly, the thing she's most worried about is if something breaks on her watch thing and she gets stuck in the past. It's not like they did many test runs.

Everyone stands in place. As Bruce gives the countdown, the last thing Michelle hears is Natasha's voice, "See you in a minute."

And they're gone.

* * *

The Quantum Realm is nothing like what she expected. Their group flies through blue tunnels of sorts and slowly break apart into their teams. Before she even registers what's going on, they're out.

Chaos. Aliens are flying around in the skies, destroying buildings and everything in sight.

This is New York, 2012. The Chitauri Invasion. It worked. Jesus Christ. Time travel is a real thing. Michelle is going to need to hunt down and blow up every last trace of this technology when this is over. This has so many bad long term repercussions.

The five of them are in an alley together. Scott, Steve, Tony, Peter, and herself. Nearby, the Hulk of the past passes and pounds a couple aliens into dust.

"Alright everyone, time to go. Michelle, can you open the portals?" Steve asks.

They had made some plans. While she's going to be busy with her own stone, she can at least get the others to where they need to go. They gave her old recordings of what the locations looked like so it's easy to do. All four of them are just going in or around Stark Tower. A few moments later, Michelle is alone.

The current Guardian of the New York Sanctum is Master Drumm. Her plan is to go there, introduce herself and try and get a quick audience with The Ancient One. If needed, she could always just portal right into Kamar-Taj, but that would set a very bad first impression if caught. Regardless, it's an option.

Stepping through a portal to the front door of the Sanctum, Michelle knocks on the door. No answer. She considers that he might be taking shelter considering the war raging above them in the skies, but the sound of fighting can be heard above her on the roof. Drumm must be participating directly in defense of the city.

However, when she gets there, it's not Drumm waiting for her but rather The Ancient One herself. Around her neck is the Eye of Agamotto. This must be Michelle's lucky day.

She approaches the woman, "Excuse me, my name-"

The Ancient One notices her and interrupts, "Now, this is a surprise. Michelle Jones, here five years too early. Your presence implies many things."

"You know me?" Michelle narrows her eyes.

"A student of Stephen Strange is bound to draw attention. You have a very notable life to live," The Ancient One explains. With a wave of her hand, she conjures an image showing Michelle's very first time she used the Mystic Arts. Despite it currently being 2012 in this world, the illusion plays out exactly like it had in her memories. Her past self closes her eyes, clearly drifting off into a daydream, then half forms a portal and runs away.

More Time Stone nonsense. This whole thing about looking into the future is getting old. Michelle gets to the point, "Great, then you know why I'm here. Why don't you just give me the Time Stone so that I can go save the universe?"

This appears to bring The Ancient One up short, "I'm sorry, did I hear that right? Surely you must be aware that I cannot give it to you."

What? "You know who I am, but not why I came here? You're the one who is seeing the future."

The older woman begins to pace, "I am not an all knowing seer. Yes, I know much about upcoming events, but only up to a point. For 300 years, I have known exactly when I will die. Beyond that, vision is hazy and the path is difficult to ascertain. I can see glimpses of accomplishments and trials, but never the full picture. You appear a matter of months after my death where things are still clear."

"Okay," Michelle follows the other woman as she walks around and begins slowly. _Be polite. Try and get some sympathy points or something._ "In the future, an alien warlord invades Earth and takes the Infinity Stones we have. He gets all six and uses them to destroy half of the universe."

She pauses to let that soak in before continuing, "We found a way to travel time so that we could come back to the past and get new stones. I need it to bring trillions of people back to life. Can I borrow it for a few moments? I promise I'll bring it right back."

The refusal is nearly immediate, "Again, you know I cannot give it to you. It will be required to defend again future threats. Your word is simply not enough to trust that it will be returned. You know this."

"Do you think I want to keep the stone? I hate it. You and Strange, knowing the future is creepy. He even admitted he used it to subtly manipulate things just so I would take up training."

"He did more than that," The Ancient One reveals. "A friend of yours will meet Strange by assisting him in battle, but does so by entering the Mirror Dimension via a gateway that Strange left open intentionally. He knew where it would lead. To you. Three weeks later, your friend takes you to Strange and the rest is history. Or the future in my case."

Of course. Of fucking course. How did she not see that coming? The odds of Peter randomly stumbling into a Mirror Dimension gateway are unfathomable. The logical conclusion is that Strange had left it open, but she never followed that train of thought to the idea of it being intentional to trigger a meeting between them.

Seriously, fuck the Time Stone. Maybe Thanos had a point when destroying them.

"Yeah, that right there? That whole thing about manipulating the future? That's a whole lot of bullshit I don't want any part in. I will gladly return the stone the moment we're done. I swear. Trillions of lives are riding on this. Please," Michelle nearly begs.

She gets no response.

A missile flies by above them. Underneath it is Iron Man, pushing it up through the wormhole. It's interesting seeing everything from this perspective. Michelle doesn't think she was old enough to truly appreciate just how insane this whole thing was. In one day, the existence of aliens was revealed to the whole world. Superheroes (aside from Iron Man) existed and could save the day. The mythology of Thor and Loki was proven to be real.

"They'll call themselves the Avengers," The Ancient One muses as she also watches the scene go by.

"I work with them sometimes," Michelle offers, trying to find some common ground to work with.

"Truly? We have lived in secrecy for thousands of years for good reason. Has it not caused you issues being so public with the Mystic Arts? Just look around. They are obviously not a subtle group."

Well, yeah. Calling them not subtle is fair, but this isn't a good example. It's not like it's the fault of the Avengers that the city is covered in rubble. Considering the alternative was having the city nuked off the map, this was the much better choice.

The younger sorceress shrugs, "It's not like anyone knows specifically who I am, but no. No problems. Science is crazy now. I understand the basics of a lot of it, but the kinds of things that can be done are so far beyond anything anyone dreamed of 20 years ago. Just look at the Avengers. Compared to them, the Mystic Arts are pretty normal."

In the distance, the Hulk leaps up into the sky and catches a falling Iron Man.

The idea of possibly working in a more public fashion appears to intrigue The Ancient One, "How often do you meet with them?"

"Um, I get occasional calls from a raccoon that lives in outer space. Sometimes I do some consulting on occult stuff for Captain America and Black Widow. The Avengers are the ones who created the time machine. I'm involved to come here and try to convince you to give me the Time Stone." Michelle gestures towards the Stark Tower in the distance, "Some of the others are over there picking up the Mind and Space Stones."

Informing her about the other stones being stolen turns out to be a massive mistake. Suddenly alarmed, the Sorcerer Supreme looks to her and demands, "You will call them off immediately. I cannot let you take them."

Shit. Shit. Shit. Michelle repositions herself between The Ancient One and the Stark Tower. Trying to not panic at the the thought of the powerful sorceress interfering, she stands her ground, "And I can't let you stop us."

It's a sudden reversal of positions and now The Ancient One takes on a more guarded stance, almost as if preparing to strike if needed.

_I've screwed up pretty bad, haven't I? There's no way to avoid this fight now._

She can't get any backup just yet. The Space and Time Stones need to be stolen in a very narrow timeframe. Peter is providing recon while the others are sneaking around inside of the tower. Michelle can't pull any of them away from that until after. For now, she's on her own.

Before this gets underway, Michelle needs to gauge something first, "I've always wondered. I was told that you invested a lot into Strange. Something about thinking he'd be the next big thing. Is he better than you?"

"He'll be the best of us."

"Good. Then I stand a chance." And honestly, that is a relief. If Strange was/is/will be (who knows anymore) more powerful than the current Sorcerer Supreme, then there's a non-zero chance that she could win this.

Michelle rolls her head around and starts to do some quick warm up stretches while the older woman watches. "Do you truly intend to try and take the stone by force?" The Ancient One asks, largely impassive, but somewhat curious.

"I've got one chance to save trillions of lives and it's around your neck. If you won't give it to me, I'll just have to try." Michelle finishes her warm ups and with some quick hand signals and motions of her arms, forms a pair of shields for each hand. "Bring it," she challenges.

_I can't kill her. She's too important. All I need is to get the stone off of her and then I can leave._

"Very well." With a single tap of a finger the air cracks and transports them to the Mirror Dimension.

The Ancient One is fast. In nearly the blink of an eye, she traverses the roof of the Sanctum and has already formed a pair of weapons for each hand. They take the form of half-circles. Almost like old war fans. Not expecting the speed, Michelle barely blocks the first hit before getting used to it. The Sorcerer Supreme has had possibly a millennia of experience in combat with conjured weapons and it shows. Every action flows perfectly into the next at a pace that Michelle can barely keep up with. All she can do is keep blocking and slowly lose ground.

Step back. Block high. Low. Side. Step back. She needs to retreat. Try and get out of close combat to go for a new strategy. Taking another step back, her foot comes to the edge of the roof. Not seeing any other option, she takes a step off the edge. And hovers. Her boots form a foothold to stand on.

The Ancient One stops and raises an eyebrow, "Oh? I believe those do not belong to you."

"They do now." It's probably not to tell her that she had a hand in killing Mordo. He's still one of her students.

The air is the safest place at the moment, so Michelle retreats to a building across the alley to create space. Expecting her opponent to open a portal to follow her, she ends up dumbfounded when something completely different happens.

"You have got to be kidding me," Michelle mutters to herself.

Reality throughout the Mirror Dimension is fully under The Ancient One's control. Rather than create a portal over to the opposite roof where Michelle is, the older woman stretches out one arm as if to wave and the world shifts. The Sanctum stretches and becomes larger until the gap between their buildings no longer exists and melds into the same rooftop.

Needing to keep her distance from The Ancient One, Michelle forms a glyph and slams a palm onto the roof. Ice sprawls out in all directions and covers everything it touches. The Icy Tendrils of Ikthalon was originally meant as a spell to freeze someone solid, but Michelle found other uses for it when working with Peter. His inherent stickiness keeps him from sliding on ice and the power of Michelle's boots allows her to run just above the ground to avoid it. It's a perfect way to establish terrain control.

The older woman impassively watches as everything is covered in ice within eighty meters. Pausing for a moment to avoid slipping, she instead casts her first traditional spell since the start of the fight. From her palms, jets of green fire blast out and instantly melt all nearby ice. Michelle recognizes the spell as the Flames of Faltine. The flames surge towards Michelle, but she already has a plan. Throwing wind into fire is not always a good idea, but if you want to control it instead of put it out, it's not a bad strategy. With the same winding motion she practiced a week ago, she summons the Winds of Watoomb again and immediately begins twisting them together. It grows and grows until it begins to take the form of a tornado. It's a positive feedback loop. Crashing into the oncoming flames, the tornado catches and redirects the flames into itself. The now flaming twister continues on it's path towards The Ancient One. Michelle follows up close behind it to try and press her attack as she conjures a weapon.

But her charge is cut short. Like before with the expanding Sanctum, The Ancient One shapes her own reality. The world itself turns sideways. Up is now to the right. Left is the ground. Down is... not the Sanctum.

With gravity no longer pointed towards the roof they were fighting on, Michelle falls. And falls. When she lands, she finds herself on the side of a skyscraper with her opponent nowhere in sight. It's surreal. To her right is the sky. If she slips from the skyscraper in this sideways world, she could fall forever.

Suddenly, in an incredible display of power, buildings all around her begin to break apart into segments. The one she's standing on breaks into at least a hundred pieces and are sent in all directions. All of them become their own independent flying platform and circle around. In the sky, these parts reform into a small colosseum and Michelle is carried right inside of it. In the center is The Ancient One, her white robes now darkened from burns indicating the damage Michelle had managed to inflict on her.

There is, however, a bright smile on her face. "My, my. It is good to see that things have been left behind in such capable hands."

_I had no idea she had such a command over the Mirror Dimension. This is nuts. Is this due to the Dark Dimension power she uses? _

There's not a lot of mobility in the small space. Seeing that she'll have to resort to close combat again, Michelle forms another shield on her left hand and a whip on her right. The Ancient One does the exact same.

"Good to see that you think that. Clearly, if I'm so capable, you can trust me to return the stone," because really, Michelle has to try.

They're talking in circles. The same arguments over and over. The Ancient One refuses her again, "And I am simply to take your word for it? The Eye of Agamotto has been the sole reason we have been able to stop many disasters from befalling our world. I am fully aware that it will be needed when Stephen Strange arrives to stop Dormammu."

Michelle opens with a low sweep which is easily dodged with a jump. She blocks the high attack that follows.

"Why do you care so much about Strange? Why him?" she's growing frustrated that things are going so badly.

The Ancient One is still calm, "I told you already. He'll be the best of us."

"He's dead! You're the one with the Time Stone! Did you see that coming? You spend all this time talking him up and then he's dead within two years!" Michelle sarcastically shouts out between attacks.

The new information briefly catches The Ancient One off guard and seeing an opening, Michelle drops both the shield and whip to form a large two handed magical hammer. She swings it as hard as she can and the Sorcerer Supreme catches herself before it impacts, but is forced to block. The impact is powerful enough to crack the shield.

The two break apart from each other for a moment and Michelle catches her breath. "You don't think I can be trusted with the stone. Then I'll just have to prove it to you. I have one chance. That's it. One chance to bring everyone I've ever cared about back to life. I'm not going to let this chance go by!"

In response, The Ancient One ramps things up even more. The walls of their makeshift colosseum begin closing in and clamping down, crushing anything near the edges. In maybe a minute, there won't be any more room to fight and Michelle will likely be dead. She could always just leave via a portal back to the real world, but she can't afford to. There's no way to get the stone without going into The Ancient One's turf. Plus, she might go off and stop the other Avengers from getting the Space and Mind stones if Michelle retreats.

"Please do not make me kill you. You still have so much to offer for your life to be cut short here. Just walk away and go back to your own time. Accept your losses and move on," she requests.

In an attempt to try and stop the walls from closing in, Michelle recasts the Icy Tendrils of Ikthalon and freezes the floor and walls. It somewhat works and buys her more time. Just like before, The Ancient One begins countering with the Flames of Faltine again, but Michelle is closer this time and expects it. Managing to make it within striking distance before the spell can be completed, she lashes out with her whip and lands a single, solid hit right into her chest.

The blow staggers her back and the ice causes her to slip and fall. Pressing her advantage, Michelle jumps high into the air for a follow up attack. From her position on the ground, The Ancient One waves her right arm to control reality and a small piece of a wall juts out at incredible speed, stretching towards Michelle to hit her in the air. Creating another air foothold, Michelle jumps again in the air to dodge, but this slight delay gives The Ancient One the time she needed.

With Michelle now in the air directly above the Sorcerer Supreme, she looks down and sees that she's just finished another cast of the Flames aimed straight up at her. Too close to counter with any spell, Michelle expands her shield as large as she can and prays it holds. Green flames lick the edges of her robes for several seconds and burn up parts of the cloth, but she comes out mostly unscathed.

The walls and floor are now free of the ice. In less than 15 seconds she'll be crushed to death.

_What do I do? What do I do?_

Ever the picture of serenity, The Ancient One says, "The future is lucky to have you, Michelle Jones. Please understand that I cannot let you do this. Protecting this stone is the single most important duty of our order. If I must allow many others to die so that we can keep it safe, then so be it."

Frustrated and panicking due to being out of time, Michelle forces herself to make another whip and go for another charge. "Then why did he give the stone away!?" she screams out as she approaches.

Just like Michelle's previous claim about Strange's death, this one stuns her entirely. Her arms slacken somewhat, her eyes no longer focused, mouth open in surprise and shock. With her target left completely open, Michelle lunges and strikes with her whip. It falls millimeters short.

But that was the point.

The target wasn't The Ancient One. It was the Eye of Agamotto. Latching onto the chain, Michelle pulls back before any reaction can take place. It's ripped off and comes right to Michelle.

She studied its protections.

She knows the spells required.

Extend pointer and middle finger on each hand. Spread arms apart.

The eye opens.

The green light of the stone shines.

And time.

Stops.

* * *

Michelle doesn't blink. Doesn't dare move her eyes away for fear that it might not be real. Inches from her face is one of The Ancient One's small conjured war fans, frozen in the air. If it had taken a tenth of a second longer to open the Eye, she'd be dead. Stepping to the side and reaching into her bag, Michelle pulls out the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak and attaches it to The Ancient One. It's a detaining device, intended to lock people down and hold them in place. The bands spread all along her body like a cage and contort her into a helpless keeling position. After it's done, Michelle closes the Eye.

And time starts again.

The Sorcerer Supreme is secured and unharmed. Time Stone acquired. Mission Accomplished.

Michelle plops down on the ground to rest for a moment.

There's a mumble coming from The Ancient One, but it can't be understood. The binding relic tying her down has a mouth guard that keeps her from talking. Seeing no harm in it, Michelle removes it. She can always just put it back if the woman gets annoying.

The Ancient One almost seems apologetic, "I believe I may have made a mistake."

"Yeah," Michelle comments dryly, "you're trapped in the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. I know how uncomfortable it is."

"Tell me, Strange gave the stone away willingly?"

Lightly surprised that she doesn't seem to care about being bound and tied down, Michelle answers, "Yeah. He looked into the future, saw a path to saving the universe, and then gave up the stone. We're banking pretty hard on this being that path."

"Very well, you can take the stone. You understand the ramifications if you do not return it," The Ancient One says finally after a long sigh.

Michelle feels dumb for having to say it because really, what the hell does she think she can do from that position? "Um, you're bound on your knees and unable to move. I'm holding the stone. At this point, giving me permission is just a formality," she points out.

With a small whistle in a series of tones, the Eye of Agamotto vanishes from around Michelle's neck and appears back around Sorcerer Supreme's. The older woman gives a smirk back, even from her defenseless position, "Did you really think that I would have all defenses on such an important relic written down?"

Annoyed, Michelle stomps over and takes the Eye back.

"Alright, time to send the old lady home," Michelle grinds out. Really, she needs to get out of here and get back to her own time. Any further delays are just more possibilities for disaster.

Before she opens the portal to dump the trapped sorceress back in Kamar-Taj, The Ancient One speaks up, "I've looked as as far into the future as I could for many of my students or others that stood out to me. Do you want to know what glimpses I saw in yours?"

Michelle is briefly stunned by the unexpected question, "Not really."

Ever since her talk with Peter about possibly using the Time Stone to see her own future, Michelle has been a pretty big believer that life is best lived when you don't know the outcome. Knowing the future can lead to some seriously scummy behavior. It's clear that The Ancient One knows exactly how and when Strange will show up in Kamar-Taj. This means she's aware of the car accident that will destroy his hands and does nothing to stop it. Maybe something mundane like that is out of her scope, but is Michelle supposed to believe that it's just a coincidence that The Ancient One benefits so much from allowing it to happen?

She answers regardless, "There is a reason you told me about your work with the Avengers. Collaboration with the outside world has always seemed like a distant impossibility for us. The people would not understand. You, however, have begun to bridge that gap. You have opened doors that make it plausible. A new future for Kamar-Taj will be single-handedly carved by you and you don't even realize that you've started it."

"I'm pretty sure I just told you I didn't want to know," Michelle deadpans.

She continues as if Michelle hadn't said anything at all, "I wish that this could have played out differently. If I had lived a little longer, I could have helped teach you. You have come so far from the vision of you first starting out that I showed earlier. You should be proud. You are going to do great things."

Unsure if her "prisoner" is trying to suck up to her or not, Michelle looks at her for a long time. The things she's telling her are.. she doesn't know what to believe. It's something that she's thought about before, but never too in depth. Honestly, she thinks there's a chance The Ancient One might be lying about not seeing the future very clearly beyond her death. If this time travel thing was the one path Strange saw, that means he was looking clearly well past his own demise.

"Times up, bye bye now," she decides instead and opens a portal below The Ancient One, ungracefully dumping her into Kamar-Taj. "Oh, Wong says hi from the future,"

Michelle taps onto the communicator in her ear, "This is Michelle. I have the Time Stone and am heading back home."

There's some excited chatter back in confirmation that they heard so she taps on the special nanotech watch, allows the white, black, and red suit to form over her, and goes back to her own time.

_Now I just need to hope everyone else gets theirs or this was all pointless._

* * *

**This chapter was a lot of fun to write!**

**I had to do a lot of research for this one. I've never read any Doctor Strange comics before so I had to pour over various wikis to get spell names and such.**

**Interestingly, the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak is the name of a binding spell (likely the one Strange used on Titan to bind Thanos' hand), but it's also designated as the name of the relic used to imprison Kaecilius in an official art book for the movie. I'll just have to sort that out when the time comes.**


	10. The End of the Path

Michelle thinks she wants to fall over. No wonder Barton had problems standing after his test run.

_Okay, so time travel is a real thing, but it's disorienting as hell._

Her vision slowly returns and the helmet from the suit retracts so she can rub her eyes. From down below the staging platform, Michelle hears the loud voice of Bruce shouting, "And we're back! Okay headcount. 1, 2, 3..."

She looks around. The platform is full of people all returning, hopefully successful. Right behind her is Peter which is a relief and a half. He seems to look panicked until he sees Stark and Rogers. Did something happen?

"4, 5, 6..."

Thor is to her left. He looks better now, somehow. A little more sure of himself perhaps. Also, is that _Mjölnir_? She's pretty certain he did not have that going in. He didn't bring any weapon at all to her recollection. Oh god, did he steal his past self's weapon? Why? There's no fighting left to do.

"7, 8, 9..."

Nebula and Rhodey are to her right. Rhodey is holding the containment orb seen in the debriefing so they must have been successful with getting the Power Stone. Good. Nebula is... she's always creeped Michelle out a little. To her understanding, Nebula has had trouble just being a person due to Thanos screwing her over which is pretty damn sad.

"10," Bruce pauses. "Where's 11? Who's missing?"

Instinctively, everyone starts drifting subtly towards their teams to confirm if everyone is still there. Lang, Roger, Stark, and Peter are here. Everyone who went to 2012 is fine.

His voice cuts in again, "Where's Nat?"

All eyes snap to Clint. He's alone and facing straight ahead, apparently already knowing she's not there.

"Clint, where's Nat?"

* * *

All six Infinity Stones were retrieved successfully, but that almost seems like an afterthought now.

It takes a while to get the full story. After everyone realized that Natasha was missing, Clint walked over to Bruce, gave him the Soul Stone, and stormed out of the building. From what Michelle understands, there were no defenses on the stone. It didn't need to be stolen. It was simply right there on a mountain top, but it required a simple trial.

A soul for a soul.

Clint gets more vague after that. There's some bits about the sacrifice needing to be someone you loved or something and that they fought over who was going to die. She won.

Fighting over who gets to kill themselves. Saying that's depressing might be the understatement of the century.

Most of the others go outside down by the water to talk. Michelle doesn't go. It seemed to be something more private for the people who knew her better. Instead, she finds a place in the hangar to sit down on and lean back against the wall to think while Nebula fiddles around with something on the quantum tunnel.

She was never initially very nervous about this whole mission because the actual risk didn't seem all that crazy. Sneaking into the 2012 Stark Tower and stealing the Space and Mind Stone? Not exactly a big chance of death. The risk came from only having one chance to pull it off and what you were willing to put on the line. Originally, Michelle thought she'd be able to simply talk The Ancient One into giving it to her. That's why it never seemed too daunting. After accidentally screwing it up and nearly dying against her, she's no longer surprised that someone didn't come home. Michelle almost didn't as well. She probably shouldn't tell anyone about that.

She was never very close with Natasha. Well, that's not entirely true. It's hard to explain. Perhaps you could call them friends. That might be why Michelle feels so terrible about all this, because the first thing that came to her mind was how thankful she was that Natasha had talked Peter out of going to Vormir and went instead of him. Thinking "at least it was her" is a horrific way to approach someone's death.

Conversations between the two of them never revealed too many personal details about Natasha's life. As far as Michelle could tell, the woman was throwing herself into literally any kind of problem that she might be able to help fix after the snap as a form of penance. The Avengers had effectively fallen apart with only her and Rogers holding it together in a regular basis with additional assistance from Rhodey and the pair of Rocket and Nebula occasionally. While Michelle's story is fairly similar in a sense with Kamar-Taj, the kind of work the sorcerers deal with isn't quite the same. Natasha was directly dealing with the fallout around the world. That can take a toll on a person and it showed. She frequently looked tired and almost lonely at times.

Distantly, Michelle wonders if Natasha would be happy that such a varied group of people mourn her. A regular human with no superpowers, but can still kick ass with the best of them. To think she's even had an impact on aliens. That's not an accomplishment that many could claim.

How will Michelle be remembered when she dies? Hopefully in a positive way. If she's lucky, it'll be when she's old and lived a full life, surrounded by family and friends. She's not so vain as to need her name written in history books, but that'd be pretty cool. The path she's taken is not one of public notability. Michelle came to terms with that after her fight with Mordo when she saw her parents being peacefully unaware of the danger they could have been in.

But is it still the case that she's destined to a life of secrecy and seclusion? Being restricted to focusing on mystical issues is a tradition she threw aside long ago when she needed to make sure that Peter would come back home alive. Her appearances in public aren't very common, but there have been a couple photos and newspaper articles about her. They're awful. Peter thinks it's hilarious.

_Maybe The Ancient One was right. I have opened the door._

Michelle shakes her head. She can sort it out later.

The others return from outside, faces etched in grim determination. Tony and Bruce head off to get to work. There's not a lot left to do. Just make a device to hold the stones and have someone make the wish.

* * *

They whip up something faster than expected. In fact, it took less than a day. Tony Stark brings up a new nanotech-based gauntlet and prepares it to have the Infinity Stones inserted. "Now, this thing is a pretty barebones model. No premium features. It can't use the stones normally outside of all of them together and it's made of worse materials than the original, but we've jammed it full of enough nanites to hold it together long enough for the snap to go off."

"So you're telling me that these rocks have the power to undo the past five years of history?," Scott Lang asks as he circles around to get a better look.

Michelle can answer that one, "Theoretically, yes. The stones are the manifested power of the universe. They can do anything. They can destroy the universe if you want. It's not a question of what the stones can do, but if you survive the backlash of using them."

"Which is where I come in," Bruce steps in.

"No, I'll do it."

Heads turn to see Thor was the one who spoke. "Excuse me?" Tony asks.

Thor steps into the middle of the group in front of the gauntlet where the stones are still being prepped for insertion, "I'm sorry. What, were you just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity? Look, us sitting here staring at that thing is not going to bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty."

Tony doesn't like the idea, "Normally, yes. It's not about that."

"It's not that, it's, stop it! Just let me. Just let me do it. Just let me do something good. Something right."

Listening to Thor talk himself down like this is sad. Michelle figures he must have been beating himself up harder than she thought over the past few years.

"No, it's not just the fact that that glove will be channeling enough energy to light up a continent, I'm telling you, you're in no condition."

"What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?"

"Cheez Whiz?" Rhodey chimes in.

"Lightning."

Bruce tries to gently nudge Thor back, "Lightning won't help you, pal. It's got to be me. You saw what those stones did to Thanos. It almost killed him. None of you could survive."

"How do we know you will?"

"I don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma. It's like I was meant for this." Banner moves in front of the gauntlet.

Stark activates a lockdown mode on the Avengers compound. All windows and doors are barred completely shut. Not even air can escape. Everyone suits up and turns on any kind of defenses they have just in case something goes wrong. The Iron Man armor puts up some kind of holographic shield (which Michelle still doesn't understand) while she puts up her own barrier. Peter and a few others shift behind her just in case.

She take a look around the room. Stark and Rhodey are in suits. They'll probably be fine. Thor and Banner are durable. Lang has his suit, though she isn't sure how much protection it really gives. Peter has his newest version of the Iron Spider suit on along with his natural superpowers. Rocket and Barton are behind Stark. Rogers has his shield out which looks comical considering it's not going to cover his whole body, but he's still a super solider. Is someone missing?

Small robotic arms start to grab the Infinity Stones and put them into place. The Power Stone is first. There's a small clink when it's in.

From her side, Peter's head shoots up and starts looking around. Michelle tenses.

_Something's wrong. His danger sense._

He doesn't get a chance to say anything though before her vision goes white and the world explodes.

* * *

It's hard to breathe. There's something jabbing into her chest. Michelle can't even see. There's too much dust in the air.

"Ah, god this hurts," she mumbles to herself between coughs. "Where am I?"

"Oh, you're alive. That's good. Was worried for a second there."

What. The pressure on her chest isn't a thing. It's Rocket. "Get. Off. Of. Me. Hard to breathe," she demands.

Rocket takes her anger in stride, "I don't know how much room you think there is, but we're kind of stuck in here. Trust me, I get no pleasure from being jammed into your breasts. You're not that cute."

Indignant fury rages through her for a moment, "I am going. To kill you."

"Do it after we get out. Just do your thing and move us out of here."

Her left arm is stuck. Michelle taps her left hand on the debris they're trapped in. The sling ring isn't on. "I can't. I need you to get the ring from my sash. I can't reach it. Put it on my left hand."

There's a shuffling noise and the feeling of Rocket crawling along her body. It's bizarre and mortifying. This is a situation she's taking to her grave. A minute later of dealing with a raccoon digging through her clothes, she feels the familiar ring on her hands.

"Done. Now get us out of here."

This is going to hurt. There's no room to actually move around so Michelle awkwardly tries to do the motions required to make a portal underneath of them. It works and they fall through. Gravity wrenches her stuck arm from its spot and it makes Michelle scream in pain as they fall and land on flat ground. Additionally, falling through the portal and landing in her lap is the same gauntlet they were about to use. The Power Stone is still in it. She snatches it and shoves it into her pouch that she previous carried the relic she used to imprison The Ancient One.

Badly scraped and bleeding in a few places, Michelle stands to see where they are now. They're in the hangar of the Avengers compound. Or well, it used to be. The entire compound is now effectively a massive hole in the ground. But that's not even the most alarming part.

There is a gigantic alien mothership in the sky above her. Its presence completely blocks out the sun. The blue skies that were there just minutes ago are nowhere to be seen.

"Oh my god," Michelle whispers to herself.

A feeling of deep terror strikes her. She's tried to move past her fear for years because she had promised herself that she wasn't going to run away anymore, but this is a lot. She's brought back to the memory of being a teenager again, walking towards the spaceship with Stark, Strange, Wong, and Bruce. So out of her depth and unprepared.

"That's Thanos' ship," Rocket says from beside her, clearly just as bewildered as she is.

What? How? What in the hell is going on?

The ruins of the hangar is mostly clear, but the loud roar of thunder comes from nearby. Both Rocket and Michelle know there's only one likely explanation for who caused it. Stepping around more debris, they find Thor, Stark, and Rogers together, staring down into the center of the crater. They're geared up and ready to go. Even Thor is in some armor and is carrying both Stormbreaker and Mjölnir.

"Do you guys know what's going on?" Michelle asks as she jogs up.

Thor points his large axe off into the distance, "Thanos has returned. He has sent his children in search of the stones."

If she squints, she can see someone large with gold armor and purple skin down there. Michelle has never seen Thanos in person before. Only descriptions from Peter and Tony.

Rocket doesn't get it, "How? I saw you chop his head off."

"You mess with time, time messes back," Stark explains simply.

So he thinks it's a different Thanos from the past? How in the hell did he get here? What the fuck is going on? They were literally about to do the snap that would fix everything. Wait. Michelle pulls the gauntlet out of her pouch. It still has the Power Stone in it. This draws everyone's attention.

A plan starts to form in Michelle's head, "We can still fix this with the stones right? We find the stones, get this to Banner, and do the snap. Everything will be undone and Thanos will be gone."

Rogers nods, "They'll be inside somewhere buried under all this. The rest of the team is in there too. Find them and they can help."

"You may be able to defeat his children, but Thanos will send his armies in eventually," Thor warns. He's right. She can't even begin to imagine how many Thanos brought with him in a spaceship that practically looks like it's the size of New York City.

"So you're going to have to hurry. We'll hold him off," Tony says. He pats Thor and Rogers on the shoulder, "Come on guys. Let's go greet our new guest." The three of them begin walking down towards the center of the crater.

"Remind me again why we never called Danvers?" Rocket shouts after them as they go.

"There's a non-zero chance she could punch a moon in half. We wanted to steal the stones, not blow up everything in sight."

"Great," he grumbles.

The sound of rubble being shifted around gets Michelle's attention. Assuming that it's someone else trapped and needing help, she runs around a few piles of collapsed rooftops to get a better look and Rocket follows. The source of the noise is not what she expects. It's not a person. It's the same large alien creature with the hammer claw multitool that she ran away from 5 years ago.

The same one that effectively ruined her life.

And it sees her.

_Don't run away._

But she's stronger now. They have a plan. She can't give up. Michelle takes a step forward. "Hold on. I can handle this," she tells Rocket.

The raccoon is in a relaxed state despite the situation, but remarks, "No offense lady, but I don't see what you're going to do. Do you even know who that guy is? That's Cull Obsidian."

The creature is roughly 40 meters away and begins to charge at her.

Taking a wider stance to brace herself, Michelle forms a large shield on her left hand despite the pain in that arm.

30 meters.

She shifts sideways a little and stretches her right arm behind her.

20 meters.

"You sure about this? I think I should shoot him." Rocket asks, waving up his blaster that looks suspiciously like something she would have seen in one of Peter's Star Wars movies.

10 meters.

"Yeah." This is personal.

Zero.

With force capable of powering through a wall, the thing she now knows as Cull Obsidian swings his hammer.

She blocks.

And punches him as hard she can with an open palm.

The thing about forcibly ejecting someone's spirit from their body is that it's not a battle of strength. Even if they don't know anything about it, someone very intelligent and determined or willful might be able to resist it or otherwise "find their way back" so to speak. Steve Rogers would probably be a good example. Michelle is pretty sure she could never do it to him in any serious situation. But the thing she's fighting now? It never struck her that way.

Cull Obsidian falls over unconscious as its astral form floats helplessly behind it.

Rocket takes an appraising look, "Okay, maybe I was wrong." He walks over and blasts it in the face with his gun several times for good measure.

"We probably should split up. Don't have much time. You take the larger tunnel," he says before running off.

Michelle peeks over to take a look. Her now defeated foe was apparently pulling large rocks off of some kind of underground maintenance passage. It's a good place to start.

The tunnel is partially flooded with ankle deep water or so and kept lit with red emergency lights. She had no idea the compound was so elaborate. Wishing she had kept her earpiece, Michelle runs down the tunnel while occasionally shouting, "Anyone there?" Tracking spells work, but only enough to tell her that people are down here. She can't afford to try and make portals to their location because one in the wrong place might cause a collapse of debris on them. The old fashioned way is the only way to go here.

Periodically, the crash of thunder or missile explosions can be heard shaking the ground and it spurs her on. At an intersection, Michelle vaguely hears a commotion down one path and turns that way. It turns out to be correct when she comes across another one of what she assumes to be Thanos' children. There's a dropped spear in the water, but the alien is completely encased on Peter's webs. It practically looks like a mummy. The only reason she knows it's alive is because it's eyes still move. She carefully navigates through the mess of webs and ignores it to keep going.

Soon, she comes across Peter himself trying to lift what must be several tons of concrete off of Clint Barton. "MJ! Oh god, good. You're okay. Hold on, let me get him out," he says after seeing her.

With a loud grunt and final push, he lifts it high enough for Clint to crawl out. "Thanks kid," he says as he gets up and pats Peter on the back.

"Not you too," he whines. "I'm not a teenager anymore."

Clint lets out a small laugh despite their dire situation, "You should see Steve. That guy still calls Wanda a kid."

That's not the news he wanted to hear and groans in dismay. Michelle hates to interrupt, but they don't have time. She pulls out the gauntlet and passes it to Peter to show him, "We need to go. Thanos is attacking us from the past. They're holding him off outside so that we can find the stones. Do you have any?"

Barton pulls out a yellow one, "The Mind Stone was with me." He gives it to Peter who drops it in the gauntlet.

The three of them continue running down the tunnels as they hear the fight raging on. "We get to go on all the best dates, MJ. This is probably the greatest one yet," Peter says.

_Good idea. Try and keep things lighthearted so I'm not thinking about imminent death._

"I was a big fan of the dimension we went to that took the form of our worst fears."

"I thought we weren't going to speak about that one again."

"No. That was the demon who made us share dreams for a week, Parker."

He taps his finger on his chin as if he's seriously contemplating it, "You're right."

"Of course I am."

The tunnels lighten up soon and there's an exit where collapse has opened a path to the world above. In front of it stands Nebula with a rifle. In her left hand are the Reality and Space stones.

"Nebula," Barton calls out to her. "We've got the glove. Give us the stones so we can put them in."

Peter runs ahead to her, but instead Nebula turns around and shoots him in the shoulder causing Peter to fall to the ground with a shout.

"Don't. Move," she demands to all three of them as she waves the gun around.

What in the hell? "Did you do this?" Michelle presses. "You're the one who brought him here?" She even saw Nebula fiddling with the time machine before. Why wasn't she suspicious about it?

"My father needs the stones," Nebula says as she approaches the gauntlet on the ground. Before she can pick it up, a shot rings out and cuts right through her chest. After feeling the hole in her body with her hand, she falls over. Dead.

A second Nebula appears from the exit they found. Michelle runs over to check on Peter, but he waves her off. He's fine and the suit has already repaired itself.

Barton isn't so sure about this, "Okay. Are you the good Nebula or the bad Nebula?"

In response, the living one points to the dead and says, "She took my place. I'm... sorry."

"Good enough for me."

Michelle grabs the two stones and throws them over to Peter who puts in them the gauntlet. Two to go.

Climbing outside is nearly a war zone now. The fight with Thanos is still far away, but it doesn't look like it's going good. In the distance, Michelle can hear the roar of the Hulk and she immediately heads over there. Climbing over a literal mountain of concrete, she sees all of the other missing teammates encased in a prison of stone and rock. The smaller alien with telekinetic powers that had attacked New York is fleeing the scene on the same whirlwind of rocks and debris he used once before in Washington Square Park five years ago.

He also has the last two Infinity Stones in hand. Soul and Time.

"Maw," Nebula grinds out. That must be his name.

Banner's strength allows him to force apart the debris holding him and the others, but Maw is too far. He's already near the bottom of the crater where Thanos is. Nebula and Rocket begins shooting at him with their weapons, but Maw effortlessly rips a large chunk of rock out of the ground with his telekinesis and holds it behind him to absorb fire.

Now closer to the fighting, Michelle can see Thanos wielding some kind of massive two sided sword that kind of looks like a pair of helicopter blades. Captain America is currently recovering to the side. The famous vibranium shield is missing entire chunks and is that Mjölnir he's holding? How? What? Now's not the time.

On the opposite ledge of the crater, the armies of Thanos appear. Washing over the far edge must be thousands of creatures. Ten thousand. Maybe more.

_We're out of time. If Thanos gets any stones, it's over._

Despite the potential danger, Michelle begins to open a portal near the fighting with Thanos to try and intercept Maw when Barton steps beside her, draws back an arrow on his bow, and fires a high arcing shot. Despite the vast distance, the shot rings true and goes clear over the debris that was acting as a shield.

And pierces right into Maw's head.

Michelle finishes the portal and Peter dives through, snatching the Time and Soul stones out of the air with webs as they falls from Maw's hands.

"Got them!" he calls out and immediately slams the stones into the gauntlet. That's all six. Following him through the portal, she allows herself to think for a brief moment that maybe they can pull this off. It's almost over. They just need to get it to-

In his excitement of being so close to the end, Peter had let down his guard. Thanos' massive sword bursts through his chest from behind. He then reaches over and takes the completed gauntlet from Peter's hands as if it was offered freely.

_No._

That might be the only word in Michelle's mind. Over and over, endlessly. Before she even realizes what she's doing, she's already at Peter's side, trying to drag him away to safety.

"MJ," he chokes out.

_There's blood. There's so much blood. How is there so much? He's wearing a suit made of metal! How is there so much blood?_

Peter tries again, but can't finish, "MJ-"

_There is a hole in my fiancé's chest._

Michelle feels the world fall apart.

_What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?_

Faintly, she registers Stark shouting something at her. She can't make out the words. Not because they're too far away or too quiet, but because they're so unimportant to her now.

She turns to look. The armies of Thanos are getting closer. It won't be long before they're overrun. All of the remaining Avengers and teammates are piled onto Thanos. He's wearing the gauntlet and they're trying to keep him from snapping.

The green light of the Time Stone catches her eye.

_I need it. I need the Time Stone. I can fix this._

Shakily, Michelle gets up and walks over to Thanos. Casting a binding spell, red strands of molten steel stretch from her hand and wrap themselves around the gauntlet to keep him from closing his fingers together. Banner and Rhodey help as well.

_Give me the Time Stone. Give it to me. Give it to me._

Banner spares her a worried look. Is she talking out loud?

Thanos tries to use his other arm to break off the bindings, but it's held back by Thor and Rogers. Stark fires some kind of device that attaches itself to the ground and Thanos' arm. It forms a powerful electromagnet that ties his hand down. Stark then shifts around to help pull off the gauntlet.

_Give it to me._

There's some kind of flash of recognition in Nebula's eyes as if she's seen this before. Kicking out and slicing at the back Thanos' knees, he falls to the ground. She then joins the effort to hold him down. Even Barton and Rocket help despite their meager physical strength in comparison.

_Give it to me._

Lang begins to grow in size. And grow. And grow. In moments, he's possibly ten stories tall.

"Fire!" comes the voice of Thanos as he struggles against everyone.

The spaceship above rains down artillery on them all. No one has protection against it, but they also can't afford to move for fear of letting Thanos break free. Lang physically throws his body over everyone to shield them as long as he can.

_Give it to me._

Thor releases his place from Thanos' left arm and moves in front of him. With the right arm exposed and nothing stopping him, He swings Stormbreaker and cleaves the arm off.

The gauntlet comes loose.

Badly hurt, Lang shrinks himself, unable to withstand the artillery anymore. The crater becomes a cacophony of explosions as everyone dives for the stones.

Off to the side, Peter Parker draws his last breath.

Someone snaps their fingers.

* * *

"I know you've been talking about this for forever. Where are you going?"

"Nope. Not telling. If I tell you, you're going to try and give me advice. You two sucked to be with for a week when you went out. I don't even want to hear you trying to tell me anything."

"Hey, I'll have you know- Hey MJ, are you alright?"

_What's going on? Where am I? _

Michelle opens her eyes to see that she's no longer in the ruins of the Avengers compound. The first thing she notices is how loud it is. So much chatter. So many voices. So many _people_. It's a veritable sea of human beings compared to what she has been used to.

It's lunchtime in Midtown School of Science and Technology. Next to her is a very alive Ned Leeds. He's so _alive_. Across the table is Peter Parker.

Still jacked up on adrenaline and feeling hysteria at the edges of her mind, she leaps into action immediately, grabs Peter and starts physically dragging him out of the cafeteria. Some people begin to point and stare, but she's got other priorities.

"MJ, wait, what's going on?" Peter continually protests the whole way.

Looking both ways down the hall to avoid anyone, Michelle starts searching for an empty classroom. The first two are locked, but the third one has the lights off and is unlocked.

"Get in," she demands as she practically throws him inside.

"MJ, please. What's going on?"

There's a nagging thought that something is wrong. She'll figure it out later. First, Michelle needs to make sure he's alright. Once they're inside the room alone, she starts tugging at his shirt to pull it off. He fights against her the whole way and is seemingly embarrassed. No idea why.

"Okay, while having you drag me off and start stripping me is kind of hot, you're being really weird right now," he says.

More alarm bells. The shirt comes off and she breathes a sigh in relief. No stab wound through his chest. No scar. He's alive.

_Right, right. We reverted time. No stab wound because it never happened._

"Seriously, MJ. What's wrong? Are you okay?" Peter asks.

Michelle looks up. There's deep concern in his eyes. Why? "Um, you're the one I need to be worried about right now. You almost died."

"Uh, from who? Last time anything bad happened to me was 6 months ago or something. Remember-"

"Peter," Michelle sternly cuts off. "This is no time for jokes. You just had a sword through your heart from Thanos."

"Who?"

The past couple minutes play back in her mind and fill in all the clues she ignored. Immediately after, her mind goes blank in speechlessness.

_Oh._


	11. What I Lost Along The Way

She probably should be celebrating. Everyone who died is back to life. All the horrific damage has been undone. That's good news, right? Except Michelle can't seem to find it within herself to be happy.

After babbling something incoherent to Peter, Michelle had stumbled out and practically fled the school. It's not like she could remember what her class schedule was, so trying to fake it for the day was out of the question.

According to her phone, it's the day before Thanos attacked. A Friday. The loose bits of conversation she was hearing between Ned and Peter as she "came back" must have been Ned telling them about his upcoming date with Betty tonight. If she remembers the events correctly, Michelle goes off to have another one of her training sessions in the Mystic Arts tomorrow morning and on her way out is when Banner had crash landed next to her, screaming warnings about Thanos.

She won't go.

The Sanctum no longer belongs to her. Strange would be there and that's a gigantic can of worms that Michelle doesn't want to go remotely near right now. Because of that, she winds up heading back to her old apartment. It's odd. She has the keys, but they feel different. The layout, the furniture, and even her old bed don't seem like hers anymore. Like they belong to a stranger. What should feel nostalgic now looks out of place.

She may have saved the universe, but in an unfamiliar home, in an unfamiliar bed, and wrapped in unfamiliar covers, Michelle Jones weeps for what she's lost along the way.

* * *

There were some attempts from Peter to call her, but they stopped after he likely had to return to class. He didn't try again. Michelle's not sure how to feel about that. Technically, he's still her boyfriend in this time. It's March and they started going out at the tail end of August of last year so they would have been together about 6-7 months. Blowing him off like this and leaving him confused will cause her problems if she wants to salvage things.

Spinning her phone around in her hands, Michelle tries to start thinking about what to do. Should she just play it all off and pretend nothing happened? Should she try and act like she's 17? Should she tell him everything? She never gets the chance to make up her mind before someone different calls her.

It's Tony Stark.

Seeing the name reminds her suddenly that there are so many other things going on that she has forgotten or been ignoring. Who else remembers? Where are the stones? Is Thanos still alive?

"Hey Glinda," he greets.

How does she broach this? "Do you..." she trails off, hoping he gets the hint.

There's a long pause. Is she the only one that knows what happened? Was it even real? "I think we have a lot to talk about," Tony eventually says.

"He doesn't remember." It's all she says. It's all she needs to say, but it's probably pointless. Surely he knows. He must know. And he must be hurt too. She's not the only one who was close to Peter after all.

Again, silence for a time, "I know."

They don't really talk. Not like the way they probably should, but maybe this is enough for now. "I'm heading out to his place to talk with him and his aunt. Try and explain what's going on. He knows something's up and that you're involved somehow, but not what. I convinced him to stop calling you in the meantime," Tony tells her.

"Should he be told?" Michelle practically chokes it out.

"It's too late for that. I, ah, may have said too much when I was checking on him."

Michelle probably said too much herself with her spouting off Thanos' name. The metaphorical rain cloud over her head is practically storming, "I don't know what to tell him."

"I know."

"He asked me to marry him. It was dumb and it was awkward, but he did it and I said yes. And now he doesn't even remember it." She checks her hand. Yep, the ring he gave her is gone. There's no evidence it ever happened.

"I know."

More silence.

"Do you want me to tell him anything about you?" he asks.

God, and isn't that the root of it all. Michelle waves him off despite the fact he can't see her, "No. No, I'll figure something out."

"Got it. Listen, I'm at his place now so I've got to go. Don't come to the compound. Rogers is on his way in and things are about to get a little chaotic since he's technically on the run. I'd rather not see you and Peter get dragged into my media circus that's about to happen."

"Wait," she calls before he hangs up.

He doesn't respond, but she can tell he's listening, "Promise me that you'll remove any trace of that quantum time travel tech after this is all over."

Stark scoffs, "Who do you take me for? I already made plans to burn it all down."

She lets him go.

Peter doesn't try calling again that night.

Or Saturday.

Or Sunday.

* * *

Much of what happens next is highly televised to the mass confusion of the world.

Nearly all parties involved in the events of the future begin finding their way back. As Stark had claimed, the fugitive Avengers are the first to arrive. All of them appear except for Natasha. From what Michelle hears, she simply vanished into thin air mid conversation with Sam Wilson. A devastated Wanda Maximoff is there and brings the body of Vision with her, the Mind Stone seemingly having disappeared as well.

Rocket's ship arrives from space and he brings along Nebula and his entire confused crew, sans Gamora. Michelle's never met her before, but heard some. Since both Gamora and Natasha apparently died as sacrifices to the Soul Stone, it's likely that the stones just refused to return them.

Thor arrives via the Bifrost in better spirits (and in better shape) than anyone has seen him in years and brings word that Banner was the one who ended up doing the snap, but is left in critical condition and is being tended to on the Asgardian refugee ship. His right arm was nearly blown off and didn't handle the transition back to 2018 well which makes some form of sense. The Hulk of 2023 and 2018 were very different. Apparently when time was reversed, Banner was found wearing the gauntlet with all the stones from the past still on it.

Thor's positive mood kept him oblivious to the fact that maybe bringing his now alive brother, Loki, to Earth wasn't a good idea at the moment.

With the six Infinity Stones in the compound and the media outside going nuts over outlaws and aliens in the building, the compound goes into full lockdown mode. No one in or out until they can send the stones back to where they came from. Only one exception was made. Scott Lang arrives in the same van that contained a quantum tunnel after an extended road trip across the country. With him are the Pym Particles required to make the trip.

The UN gets involved and it turns into a massive mess as everyone stalls until they can get rid of the stones. Threats and closed door deals were made, but everything holds together long enough for new quantum suits to be built in record time. Steve Rogers goes alone to return things to where they belong.

And doesn't come back.

Or maybe he does. It's hard to tell. Michelle gets some conflicting info there. Something about a girl. She figures it's none of her business. You do you, Captain America.

As for Thanos? According to Rocket, he and his army just disappeared. When the time came on Saturday for the initial attack that kidnapped Strange, nothing happened. No spaceship. No attack. No end of the world.

While no one is able to actually ask him yet until he recovers, it seems that the only people who remember are ones that Banner wanted to, but it only worked if they were alive at the time. The Avengers and other allies who died in the first snap had no idea what was going on. Apparently there are a few others who remember who weren't directly involved in the fighting, but they are largely family or friends of the group such as Pepper. Thor mentioned a valkyrie being one of them?

The downside is that this implies the reason Peter doesn't remember is because he died.

* * *

The problem is, Michelle doesn't really want to go back to school. Not so much because she'd be repeating classes she had sort of already taken, but because she's not ready to face anyone.

Or a specific someone.

That's why she's up at 4:00 AM on Monday morning, flipping coins to try and make up her mind as to if she wants to go. The universe conspires against her because the outcome ends up being "Go to School" 15 times in a row despite her attempts to keep claiming to herself it didn't count.

After dragging it out for much longer than is reasonable, Michelle manages to force herself to get cleaned up and leaves for class. The first thing on her To Do list is to show up early to go to the office and get a copy of her schedule. After that, she waits.

Ned Leeds enters the doors of Midtown a little while later, chatting happily with Betty. That's good. Their date must have gone well. Hoping that Betty doesn't take this the wrong way, Michelle walks up to him and pulls him into the biggest hug she can possibly give. Without letting go, she turns to Betty and says, "I'm stealing your boyfriend for a minute. I'll give him back."

Betty just raises an interested eyebrow, but says nothing.

_No denial. Not even a hint of embarrassment. Their date must have gone extremely well. Way to go, Leeds. _

"It's nice to see you too, MJ?" Ned hesitantly asks, unsure what in the world is going on.

_Don't cry. Don't cry._

"Shut up and let me have this moment. I missed you."

_Shit, I'm crying._

Ned seems to see this and quickly pulls Michelle out of the middle of the school hall where she won't make a scene. It's a nice gesture, but she doesn't really care about what others think of her.

"Seriously, are you okay MJ? You practically bolted out of school on Friday, I've been getting weird texts from Peter, and now this? Is this related to all the crazy stuff in the news?"

It says a lot about how used to crazy Spider-Man and mystical stuff Ned is that he can make that logical leap. Not trusting her voice at the moment, Michelle nods her head.

"Okay, wow. That was a total guess. And really awesome, but you're also crying into my shoulder so it's not cool."

After a couple minutes, she recomposes herself and lets go. "Some really bad stuff happened. I'll probably tell you about it at some point. Just... not now. I'm really happy you're my friend. Don't ever change, okay?"

Ned doesn't understand, but still pretends that he does and nods his head and gives a thumbs up, "You got it, MJ. I think."

Before she turns to leave, there's one more thing she wants to say. He won't understand, but it's for her own benefit. "And Ned? I'm sorry. About everything."

As expected, his only response is a dumb, confused look on his face and he keeps holding out his thumbs up. She'll take it.

For a second, Michelle allows herself to think that maybe she could get through the day without seeing Peter, but instead she sees him waiting for her at her locker. She's not ready.

_Act normal. This Peter isn't your fiancé. He's been your boyfriend for about 6-7 months. How did 17 year old me act here? Dial back the soft, seem a little distant and uninterested._

"Parker," she emotionlessly greets with a stiff nod.

_Too distant._

Her mistake is immediately apparent from the hurt look on Peter's face, but he manages to brush it off and take on a more nervous appearance It's obvious that Stark told Peter a least a little about her. Probably that she was one of the ones that remember. His face constantly twitches as if he wants to start asking something, but can't bring himself to do it. Conversely, Michelle still isn't sure how to answer any of the questions he would want to ask.

About a minute in, he manages to put forth a question, "Mr. Stark told me not to bother you and that you were working through some stuff, but you're here now. Does that mean...?"

Tony must have hated being called that again. It took nearly two years after half the universe died before he finally convinced Peter to call him Tony instead. Still, it's not within her power to deny him. Michelle doesn't say anything, but nods. That's apparently good enough for Peter who breathes out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, good. Good. Can we talk after school? Like, really talk?"

_I'm not ready. I'm not ready._

"Okay."

_What am I doing!?_

* * *

School is a surreal experience for all kinds of reasons. Some good, some bad. Michelle has no idea what kind of homework she was supposed to do and doesn't even remember what she was in the middle of learning, so instead she zones out and just... looks around. It makes her look like an idiot a few times when she isn't able to answer any questions, but she makes it through the day without too many incidents.

There's no way she's going to pass her finals without completely redoing the entire semester's worth of studying. Just the thought of doing that for all of her classes makes her groan in dismay.

In her classes, she sees her friends that she once wondered if she would ever be able to beg forgiveness from. They're all completely unaware of the tragedies that took place. That's likely for the best. Even if they can't answer her, she hopes she's finally earned it.

According to the calendar on her phone, there is an Academic Decathlon practice scheduled for tomorrow. Michelle doesn't remember where any of her binders of questions are, but that's okay. She thinks she'll order pizza for everyone instead. Call it a day off. Maybe give Cindy a little extra to take home to her brother.

Still, that's tomorrow. She'll worry about it then.

On her way out of Midtown, Michelle spots Peter waiting for her by the entrance. As with before, he's nervous. She is too. They walk together in a mostly tense silence because they can't talk about the things they need to with so many people around. Once they get to a more isolated location, Michelle casts a subtle silencing spell which surprises Peter.

He gets the hint though and with a rub of his hands to psych himself up, he begins one of the scariest conversations of her life, "So, Mr. Stark told me a lot. About this really bad thing that happened and that we lived with it for 5 years. He also said that you remember this happening."

"I do. You were there too," she answers as evenly as possible to avoid saying too much.

Peter nods, "That's what Mr. Stark said. So, what, you're 22 now?"

"In my head, I suppose," Michelle says with a shrug. "Obviously I look no older than you. I'm trying not to think about it or I'll drive myself crazy."

Ever so carefully, he asks the one question he wants to know, "He didn't want to answer much about you. Do you know why?"

"I asked him not to." She could have phrased that a lot better.

He nods regardless, "Did something happen between us?"

Oh. He's just going right for it.

Peter, however, interprets her hesitation as the worst possible case, "Because you almost acting like we're not even friends anymore. Mr. Stark is telling me not to call you. It feels like we're falling apart and I don't even know why. I must have screwed something up in the future for you to act like this. What did I do? Can I still fix it? I promise I'll do better."

It's just like him to assume it's always his fault. Michelle opens her mouth to try and refute him – to try and make him understand that it's not really his fault – but she isn't sure how to do it without saying what really happened.

"Do you not want to be with me anymore?" the vulnerability in his voice practically tears her apart.

"I do!" she accidentally says louder than she meant to in an attempt to reassure him. "I do. It's..." but Michelle has absolutely no idea what to say. Screw it. "You've got to understand. We were 22. Three days before we came back, you asked me to marry you. Now you don't even remember it."

Peter's voice practically squeaks, "I did!?"

Great. Did she just screw it up and scare him off? Michelle cringes, "Can we pretend I didn't say that?"

He snatches her hand before she can back away, "No! No, no. You can't take that back. I mean, yes, that's pretty far from what I expected and I don't know how to react yet, but I'm happy you told me."

Michelle nods rapidly, "Exactly. I don't know how to react. There's years of memories about us that only exist now in my head. We got older. We moved in together."

"So I didn't mess up?"

"Not in the way you're thinking. We had arguments and fights, sure, but we got past that."

The information seems to still be settling in Peter's head, so Michelle takes the opportunity to continue, "This thing where I'm being weird about you, that's my problem. I look at you and I see the other Peter that I've come to know for years. You're the same person, but you're also not. Does that make any sense? You're still my boyfriend, but I feel like I'm starting over. The fact that you're in front of me is something I'm still having trouble with. I watched you die. Then moments later, we come back in time only for me to see that you didn't come with us."

He nods, apparently understanding. It seems like he's trying to work out the words of something he wants to say so she waits.

"Maybe," he trails off and looks away for a moment before gathering his resolve, "Maybe I'm not the exact same person you remember, but I hope I'm close enough that you're willing to try."

He takes her silence as a cue to continue, "When I'm with you, I'm... happy. Really, really happy. It's the kind of happy that keeps me up at night because I'm wondering when the rug is going to get pulled out from under me since I'm not supposed to be this lucky. I'm not old enough to already be making plans to be marrying you. We haven't even been together long enough from my perspective for that. But when I think about my future, it's not some blank placeholder face there beside me. It's you. It's always you."

"Peter," Michelle tries to start, but doesn't know what to say.

"This stuff you're telling me - about us together in the future - I want that, but I'm not mature enough yet. I need to build my own life first. Will you wait for me? It'll be a few years."

_("Will you wait for me? It'll be a few years," Peter asks lowly.)_

The memory from his proposal practically bowls her over and she loses her balance for a moment despite standing perfectly still.

_That's right. I can't believe I forgot my promise. Maybe the circumstances are different now, but it applies all the same._

"I can wait."

Slowly, she meets his eyes and repeats herself with a small smile, "I can wait. You might have to wait a little for me too. I'm still having trouble coming to terms with this thing where I'm 17 again."

For the first time in a while, she sees him start to smile a little as well, "I can do that. So, can I take you out somewhere tonight?"

"Where to?"

"Haven't made up my mind yet. How about we head out for some ice cream later and figure it out as we go?"

Ah, to be a teenager again. Michelle could get used to this. What would be an appropriate 17 year old answer for her here? "As long as we stop being so cheesy for a while. This is getting pretty gross."

"Fair."

"Also, Peter?" Michelle reaches over to grab his arm and taps the crappy bracelet she had given him for Christmas, "Hold on to this. It might just save your life some day."

* * *

There's one more thing she must do and she's been putting this off for a while. Michelle opts to take the long way via public transportation out to the Sanctum. It gives her time to think about what she wants to say and how to say it. As much as she's annoyed by and upset with Strange, he has also simultaneously done a lot for her.

The train of thought starts with a simple question: What would have happened if Strange never pulled her in to learning the Mystic Arts? Well, Peter probably would have died after getting fried by Electro. Even if she pretends he survives there without her, he still would have died again after Thanos' snap since her shoddy bracelet wouldn't have saved him. With Peter dying in the snap, Michelle would have been left all alone in the world with nowhere to go. Where Wong welcomed her in to Kamar-Taj with open arms and helped give her a purpose, she would have drifted aimlessly in shelters. Maybe Ned's parents might have taken her in.

The reality is that the Mystic Arts saved her in more ways than one and for that she'll always be grateful, even if it may not have necessarily been the reason Strange did all this. So maybe she's not angry, just... conflicted. Does she even want to know his reasons? No, not particularly. She can already assume it's related either to what The Ancient One said or to her role in bringing everyone back. Any explanation he gives wouldn't be new information.

When she arrives, Michelle doesn't knock and heads right on in. It doesn't take long to spot Strange. He's in a chair, off to the side in the main room, deep into another spellbook. He looks exactly like she remembers. Blue robes, red Cloak of Levitation, even the same facial hair. The Eye of Agamotto is not around his neck however. It's resting on a nearby table. It's empty anyway, so there wouldn't be much point in wearing it.

He looks up at the noise of the door opening and notices her. "There you are," Strange says as he begins to stand. "I believe congratulations are in order. Wong is currently making rounds with the other masters to convince them that you deserve to be named a Master of the Mystic Arts again. I hear his speech is quite nice."

Of course, she expected him to somehow remember. Who knows how or why.

"Was it all worth it?" is her one and only question. Honestly, the big thing she's upset with Strange about is that the one future he saw things getting fixed was the one where Peter ended up dead along the way, and he was okay with that. In time, Michelle hopes that things will get back to normal with her boyfriend, but it still hurts.

Strange actually deflates ever so slightly, "I'm sorry that things had to be this way."

He probably means it all things considered.

He holds up the book he was reading to show her, "I've been investigating options to try and restore his memory. It's the least I can do."

A flash of hope rises in her chest, "And?"

"Nothing so far. This isn't a case of amnesia. The memories technically never existed to him so restoring what was never there is not so easy."

Suddenly, Michelle feels foolish for ever having hoped.

"I've discovered a method of transplanting your own memories to him which would possibly help, but I fear that's not a safe approach. In those memories, he would be you. It could cause identity issues."

That sounds like a bad idea. She shakes her head, "Yeah, let's not do that."

"There is," Strange hesitates for a moment, "one other option. Instead of trying to bring back Mr. Parker's memory, we could remove yours."

"No." The answer is almost immediate. Michelle didn't even think about it before refusing. It's not about Peter. It's about why she wanted to become a sorceress. She needs to remember.

"I'll keep looking then."

"Thanks."

The stress on Strange's face fades somewhat and he grins a little, "So, you met The Ancient One? How did that go?"

"You don't know?"

"It's a little difficult to pay attention to the details when you're trying to watch 14 million possible outcomes as quickly as possible."

Michelle rolls her eyes at his not so subtle bragging, "She was obsessed with you. It's creepy. If she wasn't dead, I'd suggest a restraining order." That gets a legitimate laugh out of Strange.

It's probably about time to go. Even if they haven't spoken much, she got what she wanted out of this. "So as you know, I've got some personal issues to deal with. I'm cashing in all the vacation time I never got to take. It'll be several months or so. You're on your own until then."

He nods, seemingly having no problem with it. Maybe he really does feel bad about all this.

"Michelle, before you go," he says before she steps out, "If you'll recall, we had a deal. A bargain we once made. I still plan on upholding my end of that."

It takes her a while to determine what he's talking about. What feels like ages ago, they had made a deal that if she tried to take up training, he would throw his weight behind her application to Harvard. The reminder is nice since she had forgotten about it long ago. Maybe she can go to college this time around.

_A second chance. Maybe that's all this really is._

With that, Michelle leaves and heads back home. Besides, she's got a date to prepare for.

* * *

Being a teenager again isn't so bad. Her night is spent eating more ice cream than should be considered healthy and wandering around the city aimlessly with Peter. Having minimal responsibility is something she needs to milk while it lasts.

Peter takes a bite of his ice cream cone. "So, Morgan Stark."

"Yep. She'll be born near the end of the year." Michelle almost feels bad for Tony. He's got his hands full. Trying to deal with helping the rogue Avengers get pardoned, getting married to Pepper, and having a daughter. That's a lot all at once.

"Wow."

"Having trouble wrapping your head around it?"

"A little. I know things were pretty bad then, but is there anything to look forward to? Any big advancements? New gadgets?"

Michelle hums in thought for a moment. She'd rather not spoil the surprise of his own stuff that he'll eventually invent. "The sex was great."

"W-W-What?" Peter practically trips over himself and starts choking on his ice cream.

"I mean, it was awkward at first-"

"Oh my god."

"-but I have so much to teach you."

"Please stop."

She sighs dramatically, "Alas, that might be too much for right now. We'll get there."

Peter reaches over and takes her free hand in his, "We'll get there."

Michelle should probably stop teasing him before his brain short circuits, but decides to go all-in instead, "Hopefully it won't take too long. Our first time was after I had a near-death experience. I'd rather not do that again."

"Um."

"You'll be amazed at how many practical uses your powers have in the bedroom."

"MJ!"

With a light shriek, Michelle runs away, laughing into the night, as her boyfriend chases after her.

* * *

Later that same night, long after finishing their treats and having calmed down from the teasing and running around...

"When are you going to do some training? I'd like to join you next time."

Michelle levels a glare at Peter. She hasn't had her big argument with him yet this time around about going out with him for dangerous stuff, so he must be up to something.

As expected, he raises his hands to defend himself, "Okay, so that was really just a thinly veiled excuse for me to come watch again. Can you blame me?"

"Again? Peter, you've never come with me. I always was with Strange in the Sanctum and he didn't want others hanging around."

"No, that's not true. Just a week or two ago I was watching you practice that spell where you control wind. I think we were out in the field in front of the Avengers compound?"

"That's a little creepy," she points out with a sideways glance at him.

"Hey! I've got an extremely badass girlfriend. Is it so bad that I want to see her at her best?"

_Smooth_. But she can't let him have the victory that easily, so Michelle pretends to contemplate it for a while and nods. "That kind of flattery will get you absolutely everywhere."

Peter seems to internally celebrate. It's cute. She's still a little confused though and asks, "When were we at the Avengers compound? I can't think of any reason we would have been there."

"Hmm. I'm not sure. You might have tagged along when I was working with Mr. Stark on my internship." He keeps thinking on it for a moment before giving up and shrugs.

No. That doesn't sound right...

Wait. Rewind that.

_("Just a week ago I was watching you practice that spell where you control wind.")_

"Peter, I didn't learn the Winds of Watoomb spell until I was 19," Michelle blankly says, her mind already elsewhere, fitting puzzle pieces together.

"Huh?"

Controlling wind.

In front of the Avengers compound.

About a week or two ago.

_That was the time he came out in the field to talk to me. It was the same day Lang showed up and they started working on the time travel stuff in the Avengers hangar. A lot of it went over my head so I went outside to practice._

_("Show-off," Peter says as he approaches. His hands are in his pockets, but there's a fond smile on his face as he approaches.)_

"You called me a show-off," she voices slowly.

"Yeah! You remember it now?"

_He's remembering something. He's actually remembering something. Maybe he hadn't completely died yet when Banner did his snap?_

Michelle carefully broaches it, "That happened in 2023."

"What? No. It was a week or so ago."

"It was 2023 a week ago."

Understanding appears to slowly dawn in his eyes. Michelle gets impatient and holds him by his shoulders and begins rapidly asking questions, "Do you remember anything else from around then? Where did we go after? How did we get there? You must know something else!"

"I-I-I don't know."

"But why this one? Why is this the one thing you remember?" she's shaking him now.

Peter seems almost scared by her reactions, "I'm sorry! I don't know!"

Michelle's pressing him too much and she kind of hates herself for it, but she needs to know. Why this one? "There must be some reason. Please. Just try."

"Okay, okay," Peter placates her and closes his eyes to try and retrace the memory. "I think I was walking out of the compound, but I don't know why I was there. I was upset about something and I was trying to figure out what to do about it. Some big plans fell apart?"

_He's recalling his frustration with the time travel thing coming up right as he was about to propose._

As if he was remembering it at the same time as he was speaking, Peter slowly continues, "When I got outside, you were there in the field doing your thing. You looked so confident. So self-assured and comfortable with who you were. And the way the wind was throwing your hair around made you look really pretty so I stayed back and watched for a little while."

His face crunches in thought, straining to follow the memory. "Then I-" He cuts himself off and his eyes suddenly open and widen in surprise.

Expecting him to continue, Michelle waits, slightly leaning forward in anticipation, but Peter doesn't say anything, seemingly still in shock. "What? What happened next?"

The words are quiet, but sure, "I put my hand in my pocket. There was a small box there."

Oh. _Oh._

"And I held on to it while I watched and kept thinking, 'Yes, this is the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.'"

Neither of them speaks, both only lit by the ambient light from the stars above and street lamps. The moment balances on a knife's edge. Not willing to push Peter into something he may not be ready for, Michelle steps closer to him and kisses him, trying to ground him. It works, and he returns it.

Gently, she rests her forehead on his. The words are a repeat from earlier in the night, but they're more serious now. More important. "We'll get there."

She believes it.

There's flickers of excitement in his eyes that weren't there before. "Yeah. We'll get there."

Michelle can wait. After all, that's what he asked of her.

* * *

Epilogue:

This is something she's been preparing herself for. Honestly, she's kind of terrified of how this might turn out, but Michelle is pretty certain she'll feel better after this is all over one way or the other.

See, her parents have come home from their business trip and she wants to tell them everything.

There will be some things altered or removed for privacy reasons of course. She won't tell them that Peter is Spider-Man for example or the exact location of the Sanctum (just in case they don't react well). Mostly everything else will be included though.

Stepping out of her bedroom, she sees them on the couch, watching something on TV. Michelle takes a seat on the recliner nearby so she can face both of them, "Mom? Dad?"

Theresa Jones grabs the remote to turn it down, "Something wrong, Michelle?"

"I've got a story I want to tell you. It's kind of long and will take a while, but I promise it's all true. It all started about, I guess you could say 6 years ago."

And while her mother gasps at the illusion spell used to conjure images as a visual aid, Michelle tells the story of her life ever since she met Stephen Strange.

* * *

**And this concludes the story. Will there be more at some point? No idea. There are a few plot threads I've left dangling that would be fun to explore and wrap up, but I'm taking a break from this for now. **

**I'd like to thank every one of you that left comments on this as I went. This is the first time I've ever written anything for fun and it has taught me so much about the process. It's been a great ride for me. Hopefully it was for you too.**


End file.
